James, I did something like this several years ago. It consisted of piles of material that were picked up as part of consumer recycling. They were dumped into a metal building. The building had one side open and the materials were dumped into piles and pushed around by bulldozer. Piles were 12-14 ft high (i think) and the building height was 20-24 ft. Front end loaders would pick up the material a dump it into hoppers that fed separators.
The piles were a mix of plastic, metal and cardboard/paper. No consistency of concentration of anything. This is a challenging situation. Neither NFPA nor FM Global really address it, or at least didn’t at the time. I spent a lot of time with my PE hat on trying to figure out what to do. I even had to ask myself what is a goal of a sprinkler system for this. The conclusion I came up with is to send an alarm and try to contain the fire from damaging the building until the fire department shows up. That really is about it. To fight this kind of fire, the material would have to be pulled out of the building by bulldozer, spread it out and then hosed down. Personally, I think this occupancy should be added to the list of things not covered by 13. Todd G Williams, PE Fire Protection Design/Consulting Stonington, CT 860-535-2080 (tel:860-535-2080) (ofc) 860-554-7054 (tel:860-554-7054) (fax) 860-608-4559 (tel:860-608-4559) (cell) > > On Nov 17, 2025 at 4:21 PM, <James Crawford > (mailto:[email protected])> wrote: > > > > > > More information > > > > > > > > Storage of standard household recyclables, paper, cardboard, plastics, metal, > glass. > > > > > > > > Standard recycling, bulk drop off, then separation into classes then baled > and shipped out. > > > > > > > > > Thank You > > > > > > > > James Crawford > > > > Phaser Fire Protection Ltd. > > > > Phone 604-888-0318 > > > > Cel: 604-790-0938 > > > > Email [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) > > > > Web: www.phaserfire.ca (http://www.phaserfire.ca) > > > > > > > > > > > From: James Crawford <[email protected]> > Sent: Monday, November 17, 2025 1:03 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [Sprinklerforum] Recycling Plant > > > > > > > > > > We are looking at a recycling plant where the pipes could be up to 18’ high. > > > > > > > > Are we looking at general storage or is there a standard for this type of > application? > > > > > > > > My design brain is saying this is a higher hazard than normal. > > > > > > > > Thank You > > > > > > > > James Crawford > > > > Phaser Fire Protection Ltd. > > > > Phone 604-888-0318 > > > > Cel: 604-790-0938 > > > > Email [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) > > > > Web: www.phaserfire.ca (http://www.phaserfire.ca) > > > > > > > _________________________________________________________ SprinklerForum > mailing list: > https://lists.firesprinkler.org/list/sprinklerforum.lists.firesprinkler.org > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >
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