by Keith Jones
If you know the below terms…..you might be a Life Safety Enginerd. If you do not, BCER can guide and assist you, this is what we do.
- Ambulatory Care Facility: Buildings or portions thereof used to provide medical, surgical, psychiatric, nursing, or similar care on less-than-24-hour basis to persons who are rendered incapable of self-preservation by the services provided.
- Automatic: As applied to fire protection devices, a device or system providing emergency function without the necessity for human intervention and activated as a result of a predetermined temperature rise, rate of temperature rise, or combustion products.
- Building Height: The vertical distance from the grade plane to the average height of the highest roof surface.
- Change of Occupancy: A change in the use of a building or portion of a building. A change of shall include any change of occupancy classification, any change from one group to another group within an occupancy classification, or any change in use within a group for a specific occupancy classification.
- Common Path of Egress Travel: That portion of the exit access travel distance measured from the most remote point within a story to that point where the occupants have a separate and distinct access to two exists or exit access doorways.
- Combustible Dust: Finely divided solid material which is 420 microns or less in diameter and which, when dispersed in air in the proper proportions, could be ignited by a flame, spark, or other source of ignition.
- Container: A vessel of 60 gallons or less in capacity used for transporting or storing hazardous materials.
- Container, Intermediate Bulk: A vessel greater than 60 gallons (typically 275 or 330) in capacity used for transporting or storing hazardous materials.
- Deluge System: A sprinkler system employing open sprinklers attached to a piping system connected to a water supply through a valve that is opened by the operation of a detection system installed in the same area as the sprinklers. When this valve opens water flows into the piping system and discharges from all sprinklers attached thereto.
- Empty 55 gallon drum: A completely clean drum free of any oil or particulate residue.
- Fire Partition: A vertical assembly of materials designed to restrict the spread of fire in which openings are protected.
- Fire Barrier: A fire-resistance-rated wall assembly of materials designed to restrict the spread of fire in which continuity is maintained.
- Fire Wall: A fire-resistance-rated wall having protected openings, which restricts the spread of fire and extends continuously from the foundation to or through the roof, with sufficient structural stability under fire conditions to allow collapse of construction on either side without collapse of the wall.
- High-Piled Combustible Storage: Storage of combustible materials where the storage is greater than 12 feet in height. Can also include high-hazard materials such as rubber tires, Group A plastics, or flammable liquids where the top of storage is greater than 6 feet in height.
- High-rise Building: A building with an occupied floor located more than 75 feet above the lowest level of fire department vehicle access.
- Horizontal Exit: An exit component consisting of fire-resistance-rated construction and protected openings intended to compartmentalize portions of a building thereby creating refuge areas that afford safety from fire and smoke from the area of fire origin.
- Level of Exit Discharge: The story at the point at which an exit terminates and an exit discharge begins.
- Means of Egress: A continuous and unobstructed path of vertical and horizontal egress travel from any occupied portion of a building or structure to a public way. A means of egress consists of three separate and distinct parts: the exit access, the exit, and the exit discharge.
- Pre-action System – Single Interlock: Admits water into the piping system upon operation of detection devices. (Example: A single-interlock system is filled with air. Upon detection of smoke the pre-action valve opens and water flows into the piping. Water does not discharge into the space until a sprinkler head is activated (link fuses)).
- Pre-action System – Double Interlock: Admits water into the piping system upon operation of both detection devices and automatic sprinklers. (Example: A double-interlock system is filled with compressed air. Upon detection of smoke and a sprinkler head activating the pre-action valve opens and water flows into the piping and discharges from activated sprinkler head.)
- Public Way: A street, alley, or other parcel of land open to the outside air leading to a street, that has been deeded, dedicated or otherwise permanently appropriated to the public for public use and which has a clear width of and height of not less than 10 feet.
- Standpipe System – Class I: A system providing 2-1/2” hose connections to supply water for use by fire departments and those trained in handling heavy fire streams.
- Standpipe System – Class II: A system providing 1-1/2” hose stations to supply water for primarily by the building occupants or by fire departments during initial response.
- Standpipe System – Class III: A system providing 1-1/2” hose stations to supply water for primarily by the building occupants and 2-1/2” hose connections to supply a larger volume of water for use by fire departments and those trained in handling heavy fire streams.
- Standpipe – Types: Automatic Dry, Automatic Wet, Manual Dry, Manual Wet, and Semiautomatic Dry.
- ASSD: Air Sampling Smoke Detection
- SFD: Standard Fire Detection
- EWFD: Early Warning Fire Detection
- VEWFD: Very Early Warning Fire Detection
Sources
- 2015 International Fire Code
- NFPA