Craig, The boats that are stored in these facilities around this part of the country do not have the fuel tanks purged or the batteries disconnected. They are usually 18' to 25' pleasure/ski/fishing boats that can be removed from the rack, dropped in the water and ready to go in a few minutes.
Like someone has already mentioned, this is the kind of job to walk away from until there is definite guidance given by an NFPA standard. Cliff Whitfield Fire Design, Inc. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, August 10, 2007 10:29 AM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: boat storage In doing some reading on the topic is appears from a risk standpoint that the boats stored in the rack configuration had a lower risk of being involved in a fire than those which are moored in the water under the dock roof. Reason being that those stored on the racks were drained of fuel and had batteries disconnected and had no access from the owners or others during storage. The boats that were stored in the water were often larger and while docked were involved in more on-board repair work as well as having on-board heaters running (while unoccupied) during cold weather to prevent plumbing pipes from freezing. It appears that heaters were a common source of on-board fires. Ignition of flammable vapors ranked up there as well. But agreed, the rack storage arrangement is a very complex situation with little to no guidance from the Code realm. In one recent project this situation came up and NFPA 312 "Standard for Fire Protection of Vessels During Construction, Conversion, Repair and Lay-up" was applied along with NFPA 306 "Standard for the Control of Gas Hazards on Vessels. Note: that this was not a pleasure craft facility. But there was no way NFPA 13 could be applied to this facility. NFPA 312 has very strict procedural guidelines and also ties into some CFR Regs. Those tightly restrictive procedures allow for a more simplistic approach to fire protection. Craig L. Prahl, CET Fire Protection Group Mechanical Department CH2MHILL Lockwood Greene 1500 International Drive PO Box 491, Spartanburg, SC 29304-0491 Direct - 864.599.4102 Fax - 864.599.8439 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.lg.com -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Greg McGahan Sent: Friday, August 10, 2007 11:02 AM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: boat storage True that. Some of the steel people are beginning to figure the weight of the water in the rack design. This issue MUST be addressed and put to rest by the IBC, NFPA, FM or someone soon, or I think disaster is in the wings. I have no replies with successful saves IN a boat storage facility from this forum. Greg Living Water Fire Protection, LLC 1160 McKenzie Road Cantonment, FL 32533 850-937-1850 Fax: 850-937-1852 -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Roland Huggins Sent: Friday, August 10, 2007 9:56 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: boat storage The issue is not boats in a berth sitting in the water. That one is simple since it is just a building covering a low level of storage. He is asking about boats stored on racks several levels high. It's a nasty item. No contractor in their right mind should attempt to DESIGN it. Even with the engineers copying designs from contractors in the Florida panhandle, LEAVE IT TO THE ENGINEER. Now I can say no engineer in their right mind would touch it unless the client was willing to make some very limiting modifications to the layout of the racks. Many of the facilities have adjustable racks to accommodate boats of different heights. I've heard of people putting side wall heads in the columns to cover the area beneath the boats. You think maybe they were ignoring that you need the heads to activate in order for the water throw to count as covering the area? Group A plastics on racks with LOTS of surface area and LOTS of air flow is not a recipe for a slow burning, modest fire. Speaking of racks, these also often do double duty by supporting the roof as well as the boats. You think they include the weight of a water filled boat as part of the load for designing the rack? Roland On Aug 9, 2007, at 2:24 PM, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Are you having to prove the worth of sprinklers in this type of > installation? > > > Any idea of the value of loss in storage docks WITHOUT sprinklers? > > > Craig L. Prahl, CET > Fire Protection Group > Mechanical Department > CH2MHILL > Lockwood Greene > 1500 International Drive > PO Box 491, Spartanburg, SC 29304-0491 Direct - 864.599.4102 Fax - > 864.599.8439 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.lg.com > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Greg > McGahan > Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2007 4:41 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: boat storage > > I know this subject has been thoroughly abused so let's try a > different angle. > > Does anyone know of any successful saves due to a sprinkler system in > a boat storage facility? > > This issue is not going to go away and there is only going to be more > of them built. > > Greg > > Living Water Fire Protection, LLC > 1160 McKenzie Road > Cantonment, FL 32533 > 850-937-1850 > Fax: 850-937-1852 > > _______________________________________________ > Sprinklerforum mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum > > To Unsubscribe, send an email > to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) > _______________________________________________ > Sprinklerforum mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum > > To Unsubscribe, send an email to:Sprinklerforum- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject > field) > _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field)
