Bruce Lukens is the VP of Product Services at GaylordUSA. He can be reached for additional information at 800-547-9696 or brucel@gaylordusa.com.

Bruce began his presentation with the two following statements:

• Fire presents one of the greatest threats to a commercial building.
• Buildings with commercial kitchens present one of the greatest hazards for fire developing in a building.

Life Safety requires the following steps:

• Proper System Selection
• Code Compliance
• Integration into Building System

Included are the following:

• NEED
• CHALLENGES
• SYSTEM TYPES
• ACTIVATION
• SHUT-OFF
• FANS
• BUILDING SYSTEM INTERFACE
• CODES
• STANDARDS

NEED
Does the cooking line up need a fire protection (FP) system?

• NFPA 96 2004, section 10.1.2 reads:
  • Cooking equipment producing grease laden vapors that might be a source of ignition or grease in the hood, grease removal devices or duct shall be protected by fire extinguishing equipment.
• IMC 2003 Edition, Section 509 reads:
• Commercial food processing equipment appliances required by Section 507.2.1 to have a type I hood shall be provided with a fire suppression system complying with the International Building Code and the International Fire Code.
• IMC 2003 Edition, Section 507.2.1 reads:
• Type I hoods shall be installed where cooking appliances produce grease or smoke, such as occurs with griddles, fryers, broilers, ovens, ranges and wok ranges.
• IFC 2003 Edition, Section 6.10.2 reads:
• A type I hood shall be installed at or above all commercial cooking appliances that are used for commercial purposes that produce grease laden vapors.

CHALLENGES
There are appliances that do create issues such as:

• Pizza Ovens
• Kettles, both steam and electric
• Ovens
• Appliances not listed in the manufacturers installation manuals
• Induction cookers

Bruce recommends checking with the individual manufacturers for their recommendations. Often, it is the type of food(s) being prepared that will determine the need for fire suppression. Listings should always be checked.

SYSTEM TYPE

• What kind of Fire Suppression?
• NFPA 96 2004, Edition 10.2.3 reads:
• Automatic fire suppression systems shall comply with UL 300 or equivalent standards and shall be installed in accordance with the requirements of the listing.
• IFC 2003, Section 904.11 and IBC Chapter 9 recognize:
• Liquid chemical (Lowest initial cost)
• Water Spray with specific advantages
• Lowest cost of ownership
• Easiest to clean up after a discharge
• Single point discharge at the point of fire

ACTIVATION
What should happen when the fire protection system activates?

• NFPA 96 2004 Edition, Section 10.4 Fuel Shut Off reads in:
• Section 10.4.1 – Upon activation of any fire extinguishing system for a cooking operation, all sources of fuel and electric power that produce heat to all equipment requiring protection by that system shall automatically shut off.
• Section 10.4.3 – Any gas appliance, not requiring protection, but located under the same ventilation equipment shall also automatically shut off upon activation of any fire extinguishing systems.
• Section 10.4.4 – Shut off devices shall require manual reset.

• IFC 2003, Section 904.11.2 reads:
• Requires fuel shut off and manual reset.

SHUT-OFF
How is the fuel shut off accomplished?

• Electric gas valve
• Mechanical gas valve
• Shunt trip breaker
• Contactor

FANS
Exhaust and supply fans, on or off?

• NFPA 96 2003 Edition
• Section 8.2.3.1 refers to the exhaust fan
• A hood exhaust fan(s) shall continue to operate after an extinguishing system has been activated unless fan shut down is required by a listed component of the ventilation system or by the design of the extinguishing system.
• Section 8,3.2 adds:
• When the fire extinguishing system discharges, makeup air supplied internally to the hood shall be shut off.

BUILDING SYSTEM INTERFACE
Fire suppression systems interface with many other building systems such as:

• Exhaust and make up air for the kitchen
• Gas and electricity for the cooking equipment
• Building management systems
• Building alarms
• Cooking equipment
• Commercial cooking ventilation (exhaust) hoods

CONCLUSIONS & TIPS

• Making sure you know and understand what each system will do under various conditions is paramount for avoiding a delayed Certificate of Occupancy (CO) and costly last minute fixes.
• Communicate with all of the stake holders to insure a properly configured system:
  • Fire Protection (FP) system manufacturer/supplier
• Hood system manufacturer
• Local AHJ Officials, both mechanical and fire
• Use the hood manufacturer as a valuable resource during the design stage, they know what works and can point out potential pitfalls.
• Confirm these strategies to all parties mentioned above prior to the Fire Marshall arriving on the job site.

CODES
APPLICABLE and RELEVANT CODES that apply to commercial kitchen fire protection:

• IMC
• NFPA 96, NFPA 17, NFPA 17A, NFPA 16, NFPA 13, NFPA 12
• IFC 2003
• IBC 2003

STANDARDS

APPLICABLE and RELEVANT STANDARDS that apply to commercial kitchen fire protection:

• UL 300, UL 199E, UL 197, UL 710

UP YOUR STACK thanks Bruce Lukens for providing this valuable information. It was edited and formatted from a slide format. We suggest each of you retain this document for future use as an AHJ, a foodservice or MEP designer, consultant or contractor.