In a recent Consulting-Specifying Engineer article, a group of engineers discuss Fire and life safety issues.

CSE: What unique fire suppression systems have you specified in hospitals?

The most unique fire suppression systems that TME designs for hospitals are for specialty areas including MRIs and critical care areas, as well as in data centers. The fire suppression equipment within data centers usually includes a pre-action wet fire suppression system and a very early smoke-detection apparatus (VESDA) that use the most sensitive detection techniques to take every precaution in verifying a fire condition before introducing water into the room. We have also used clean agent FM-200 for MRI rooms for critical care areas where patients cannot be easily relocated in the event of a fire, said Tommy Spears, Vice President of Design Solutions, TME, Little Rock, Ark.

Recently we have been providing interlocked pre-action systems and some dry-agent systems, such as FM-200. We also work with the architects closely to create unique ways to treat the fire protection needs of large drop-off canopies at hospitals in several locations, , said Nolan Rome, Senior Vice President, WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff Co., Phoenix.

Read the article.