The fire safety of large parking garages has been a subject of uncertainty and discussion in the Netherlands since the 1990s. Which regulations must be met, what are the most important bottlenecks and what is a possible solution? The great diversity in construction, size, situation in relation to the environment, and application of the various parking garages does not make it any easier. This was one of the reasons why the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations commissioned a study at the end of 2015 into a guideline for the fire safety of all these various parking garages.
Following on from last year's afternoon symposium "Parking at your own risk", an article about fire safety in existing parking garages has recently been published, which briefly summarizes which regulations must be met, what the most important bottlenecks are and what a possible solution could be. . Just like during last year's symposium, it is clear that it is very important to quickly get fire development under control in a parking garage before it gets out of hand. The smoke development caused by the fire causes a rapid decrease in visibility, which makes escape and fighting the fire more difficult.
To keep a fire in a closed parking garage under control, three fire protection measures are currently in use, namely:
- Compartmentalization (legal requirement);
- Ventilation (equivalence);
- Active extinguishing systems (equivalence)
In the first two measures, fire brigade deployment remains necessary to fight the fire.
One of the solutions, with which you can also realize an equivalent solution, quickly get fire development under control and is also increasingly used, is a “low-pressure water mist system”. Just like a sprinkler system, a tray pressure water mist system combats and controls the fire and, like a sprinkler, it offers an equivalent solution for exceeding established fire compartments. The low-pressure water mist systems are mainly characterized by their fast response time, low water consumption and very effective fire fighting. By limiting fire development, smoke development will also remain limited, which guarantees fire brigade response and means that the owners and operators of garages suffer less (consequential) damage and loss of income.
With a minimum operating pressure of 6 bar, maximum spacing (reach per nozzle) of 16 m2 and maximum height of 3 meters, VID Fire-Kill offers a certified parking garage solution with significantly more design options than other fire fighting systems. As the market leader in low-pressure water mist systems, our water mist supplier has a lot of experience with parking garages and has already protected many parking garages worldwide with their water mist systems.
If you would like to know more about the advantages and disadvantages of the various fire protection measures or about the VID Fire-Kill water mist systems for parking garages, I would be happy to assist you.