The one issue most fire protection engineers face continually is the misconceptions connected to fire suppression equipment. Since the average person doesn’t comprehensively understand the protection fire safety measures can bring, through this article three of them are explained better.

Some Common Misconceptions About Fire Safety

• Sprinklers have to be away from electricity – not true.

If any electrical equipment is exposed to sprinkler water, it can be easily cleaned by rinsing it with deionized water and then drying. Sprinklers don’t make electronics unusable. Furthermore, a fire created by electricity generates smoke that is:

o Toxic
o Opaque
o Corrosive

Fighting it with hand-held apparatuses like a fire extinguisher is almost impossible. Therefore, sprinklers are needed to douse the fire. When it comes to the risk of electric shock due to water combining with the open wires, the probability of a person being harmed from the fire smoke or combustible products is much higher.

• Water can’t be used for oil fires – not true.

Water is one of the best agents to suppress, control and extinguish fires caused by flammable liquids. The only condition is that it has to be accurately applied. If a straight stream of water is thrown on the oil fire, the burning liquid will spread. But if applied in a pattern, it can eradicate the fire effectively.

• Sprinklers can cause extensive damage – not true.

The tool that can offer early control of a fire is a sprinkler system. It provides safety and limits damages extensively. Since sprinkler heads only begin to operate after the fusible link that closes them melts, there are low chances of them destroying property. The head of each sprinkler has to melt before it starts to spray water.

The one type of sprinkler system that can cause irreparable damage is deluge sprinkler, but they are limited to high-hazard applications.

While it is true that no matter how many measures are taken for fire protection, full immunity is impossible. Undesirable fires will cause some harm. But when a proper selection of safety equipment is made and careful analysis of possible hazard conducted, any potential hurt and damage can be reduced to a great extent. Therefore, it behoves businesses and property owners to break free from the myths that surround fire safety equipment and start implementing them.

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