Fire Protection Water Supply System
Project description
You currently serve as the fire inspector for a municipal fire department and are considered the authority having jurisdiction. A newly planned community is being developed within your jurisdiction, and you have the authority to approve the fire protection water supply system prior to installation. Additionally, you will be responsible for ensuring that inspections and testing of the fire protection water supply system are completed prior to the certification of any occupancy within the planned community. The planned community includes single-family dwellings; multi-family dwellings; commercial buildings, including businesses and mercantile occupancies; and assembly occupancies.
As part of your responsibilities as a fire inspector, you are to ensure that the appropriate type of hydrant is installed and that spacing is in accordance with the local code based on the occupancy types.
In no less than two double-spaced pages, list the type of hydrant to be installed, and why. Also, describe how the hydrants would be tested and maintained. Next, provide the spacing requirements based on your local jurisdictions requirements (this could be where you reside). Include a diagram detailing these spacing requirements. Lastly, include the inspection requirements and items to review in regards to the fire protection water supply system.
All sources used, including the textbook, must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying citations. Any references or citations used should be in APA style.
Types of hydrants to be installed
Compression type
Toggle type
Slide-gate type
The low temperature in the municipality which at times goes below the freezing point of 320 F has led to the choice of the dry-barrel hydrants. The dry hydrants have the capability of protecting the barrels from being destroyed from the low temperatures. The three types of dry-barrel hydrant compression type, toggle type, and slice gate hydrant are employed to match style of water flow, and to suit different occupancies of the municipality (American Water Works Association, 2006).
Testing and maintenance of hydrants
It is incredible and a fact that most installed hydrants will perhaps never be used unless there is fire. Therefore, inspection, testing and maintenance are essential for the purpose of ascertaining the full functionality and performance of the hydrants to meet the capability at emergency time. In the United States, the goal is to conduct inspection and maintenance of the hydrants on a yearly basis. However, flow testing is carried out on a rotating time schedule. Therefore, under the mandate of my jurisdiction, the hydrants will be inspected yearly with a 20% flow tested. The reason for testing these installed hydrants per year is based on the fact that they are dry hydrants. As it is known dry hydrants are highly susceptible to failures. The failures arise from debris in the barrel and improper drainage. The mentioned factors can easily result to the unusable dry-barrel hydrants (Corbett, 2009).
Spacing requirements based on local jurisdictions
In the Michigan state, the minimum spacing distance between buildings is calculated using the formula below.
Figure 1: Spacing Requirements (Sault Ste. Marie, 2016)
Minimum distance between buildings=(L_A+L_B+2(H_A+H_B))/6
Sault Ste. Marie (2016), states that in a block of one side of the street of 50% or more occupancy, the depth of the front yard is supposed to be more than the depth of the front yard that exit buildings and should not be less than 20 feet. The minimum width of a side abuts a street must be 5ft, among others.
Inspection requirements and items review
According to Corbett (2009), the following are the checklist for inspection of dry hydrants.
The following entails what to look for whenever conducting an inspection on hydrants.
Location: ensure the hydrant is on the working map, but while working from a list check the hydrant number and address.
Clearance: make sure that the hydrant is visible. It is a requirement of a typical fire code a 3ft clear space is maintained in all the circumference of the hydrants.
Chains, caps, and threads: caps should be free of any damages, is attached to the hydrants through the chains, and rotate freely.
Barrel empty: the dry barrels should be maintained empty and are as well free of visible debris.
Valves: make sure the dry barrels hydrants drain to completion through verification that water is drained down the hydrant barrel.
Paint: make sure that the paint is in good condition but minor cracks have no harm. However, severely rusted barrels should be reported and repainted.
Color code: apply the use of color codes from NFPA (National Fire Protection Association).
Reflector: check the reflectors in the course of annual inspection and replace the damaged ones.
References
Sault Ste. Marie, MI, (2016). Appendix A – Zoning Ordinance. Retrieved from https://www.municode.com/library/mi/sault_ste._marie/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=APXAZOOR_S10-1.065MUMIREDI
American Water Works Association (Ed.). (2006). Installation, Field Testing, and Maintenance of Fire Hydrants: M17 (Vol. 17). American Water Works Association.
Corbett, G. P. (2009). Fire engineering’s handbook for firefighter I & II. Tulsa, Okla: PennWell.
