Fire water supply requirements: overview of current regulations

The main document that makes up the technical regulations on fire safety, as such, is Federal Law 123. On its basis, a set of rules (SP) under the number 8 * 13130 ​​has been developed, which sets out the requirements for fire water supply. They relate to the sources of water, its reserves, as well as the consumption of extinguishing a fire in certain conditions.

This document also sets out the requirements of fire safety rules for fire-fighting water supply, electrical equipment, structures, pumping stations and networks used in it. As for the installation of the pipelines themselves, it is carried out in accordance with the current standards, the scope of which extends to the construction of external or internal water supply networks.

Requirements for external fire networks

Despite the fact that the document we are discussing is a set of rules and regulations, it is applied voluntarily, and does not apply to enterprises with certain types of activities.

• Simply, for most special-purpose facilities, for example: the oil refining industry, gas stations, hydroelectric power plants, their own standards and technical conditions are established. However, they should not run counter to the technical regulations outlined in 123 FZ.
• , which will allow, if necessary, to quickly extinguish the fire, must necessarily be provided on the territory of any settlement or organization.
• Most often, it is combined with either a production or a drinking-water supply pipeline, but it can also be arranged as a separate, independent system.

Do you always need fire-fighting water supply: the requirements of the law in this regard are extremely specific. Doing absolutely without a fire water supply system, or organizing it from reservoirs or reservoirs, is permissible only in some cases. Which ones?

The table below will tell you the answer to this question:

Where and what water pipes provide

According to the rules, fire water pipes are designed with low pressure. High pressure pipelines are only created in certain situations. For example: in settlements in which there are less than 5,000 people, and therefore fire departments are not provided in them.

• The fact is that high-pressure water lines are equipped with automatic pump starting systems, which are triggered 4-5 minutes after a fire signal is received.
• Such systems should provide a water jet height of 20 m in a situation where the supply shaft is located on the roof of the tallest building.
• As for the LP fire pipelines, the minimum allowable water pressure (at ground level) in them should not be less than 10m. In interconnected pipelines, the minimum and maximum head values ​​should be 10m and 60m, respectively.
• Water consumption per one fire, as well as several simultaneous fires, should be calculated according to the tables presented in the set of rules. After extinguishing the fire, the volume of consumed water must be restored in full.

Note! In cases where the capacity of the existing water supply network is not enough to supply the volume of water required to extinguish a fire, a reserve tank with water should be provided at the facility, the amount of which will provide a three-hour external extinguishing.

The same reservoir is provided for cultural and entertainment institutions, social and cultural facilities: railway stations, cafes, dispensaries, etc., located in rural areas where there is no running water.

Fire extinguishing stations and requirements for them

There are three categories of stations with the help of which fire extinguishing is carried out. The first includes stations that supply water to a fire or interconnected network directly from a centralized source.

Stations supplying water from reserve tanks, artificial or natural reservoirs, are referred to the 2nd category. The third category of stations serves either small settlements (up to 5,000 people), or individual buildings.

The selection of pumps for them by type and power (see) should be carried out on the basis of calculations, taking into account the total characteristics of the units, the throughput of water pipes, storage tanks, as well as real conditions for fire extinguishing on the ground.

The number of reserve pumps, at stations of the 1st category should be at least two, at the station of the 2nd category, one is enough. A reserve unit must be provided in any case, regardless of how many working pumps are in the installation.

So:

• In stations serving settlements with a population of up to 5,000, and with a single source of electricity, the backup pump must be equipped with an automatic start from the battery.
• There must be two suction pipelines through which water flows to the station - regardless of the number of installed pumping units.
• There should also be two pressure pipelines, through which water flows from the station to the distribution points, at the stations of the first two categories. And only at stations of the III category, only one supply line can be provided.
• In cases where two suction or pressure pipelines are designed, each of them must be designed to supply the full design volume of water.
• The station providing fire water supply can be located in an industrial building. But at the same time, it must necessarily have a separate exit to the street, and it is separated from the rest of the building by a firewall.

Safety requirements for fire-fighting water supply include certain rules for the arrangement of networks, structures on them, and the sequence of their construction.

Note! If, in the presence of two water pipelines, if one of them fails, it can be replaced in full by the second, then when laying a single line, the project provides for a reserve volume of water, which should be enough to eliminate the fire.

Basically, water supply networks are circular. Dead-end pipelines can only be used to supply water to a drinking or fire-fighting water supply system, the length of the lines of which does not exceed 200m.

With a greater length, dead-end water conduits can only be where the source of water is a reservoir or reservoir, and at the end of the line there is a spare tank with the required fire volume of water. Ringing of external networks, with internal networks is not allowed.

Placing hydrants

When installing fire water pipelines in settlements, the installation locations of hydrants are determined based on the width of the streets. If this figure does not exceed 20m, a duplicate line may be provided, which should not cross the carriageway.

It is on this line that hydrants are installed. With a street width of up to 60 m, the water supply network is usually laid on both sides.

If hydrants are installed along the road, then they should be located no closer than 5m to buildings, and 2.5m to the border of the carriageway. But sometimes their location on the roadway is also permissible, which we see in the above photo. Hydrants are often installed on ring lines, but sometimes on dead-end lines. In the latter case, the necessary measures must be taken to prevent the water from freezing.

The arrangement of hydrants should be such that any building within a particular network can be extinguished from at least two hydrants. The step between them is calculated based on their throughput and total water consumption.

So:

• On the water supply system of a small enterprise, or a settlement with up to 500 inhabitants, not a hydrant may be provided, but a riser with taps, the location of which is indicated by a special plate. Alternatively, the riser outlet can be located in a special fire cabinet.
• Needless to say, the installation, repair and maintenance of fire-fighting water supply systems primarily involves ensuring the correct installation and maintenance of hydrants and taps in good condition.
• In winter, they should be insulated, and their location should be cleared of ice and snow. The access to the fire equipment hydrants must be ensured at any time, and signs must be installed along the road that determine the direction of movement to them.
• Most often, the laying of supply pipelines is provided underground, but with appropriate justification, tunnel and surface options are allowed. Where fire-fighting or interconnected lines are laid in tunnels or underground, hydrants are installed in special chambers or wells.
• Onshore laying of the pipeline provides for the placement of hydrants on the network itself. At the same time, they, like shut-off valves, should be placed in ground-based chambers, insulated so as to exclude freezing in winter.

Shut-off valves on the water lines of the fire network must be manually driven, or may have a mechanical drive. The use of electric, as well as pneumatic and hydraulic drives is allowed only if the pipeline is equipped with automatic control. But in any case, the possibility of manual opening of the valves should also be provided.

The selection of the diameters of the pipelines of fire water pipelines is made on the basis of the calculation. The rules stipulate only the minimum permissible sizes. For urban and industrial lines it is 100 mm, for rural settlements and detached buildings - 75 mm.

Technological control of fire water supply

Annual maintenance of fire water supply is an integral part of the requirements set out in the technical regulations. This includes not only monitoring the health of the pipelines themselves, but also ensuring the safety of the electrical equipment used, control systems.

How to ensure system readiness

Mandatory control, in the pumping station's engine room, is the pressure in the supply pipeline and for each pump separately, the water flow on the pressure lines, as well as the emergency water level. Automated network management also requires constant monitoring of the voltage in the signaling nodes and turning on the pumps.

In general, constant maintenance of the fire-fighting water supply - that is, the round-the-clock presence of personnel, is not mandatory. At automatic stations, it is carried out depending on parameters such as pressure or water level in tanks.

With remote control, control is carried out from the control room. In other cases, the survey technique for fire-fighting equipment is as follows. The serviceability of units and assemblies is checked by incoming employees, who transmit all the necessary information to the control center.

The system must be debugged so that at the moment the fire pump is started, units for any other purpose are turned off, and the valves on the pipeline transporting water to the tank or water tower are automatically closed. This also applies to blocking, which in normal times prohibits the misuse of the water supply.

Plumbing inspection sequence

Fires do not happen often - at least in the same place. The fire-fighting water supply system is idle, but, nevertheless, it must always be in "combat" readiness. For this, its performance is checked annually, and this is the order in which it is done.

So:

1. A visual inspection is carried out, and the equipment is checked.
2. The system starts up - first in automatic mode, and then in manual mode.
3. A test run of the pumping equipment is mandatory.
4. The performance of the hydrants is selectively checked. At the same time, the indicators of the jet of water gushing from them are measured.
5. When checking, the wells of the SG are also examined for sufficient insulation.

As for the maintenance of internal systems, its regulations are to check the risers and pumps, determine the pressure and radius of the jet, the completeness of the fire cabinets, the integrity of the hoses, their testing and rolling. You will familiarize yourself with this process by watching the video in this article.

The readiness for operation of automatic installations is checked according to a different scheme. When they are put into operation, as well as during annual inspections carried out by fire authorities, a package of documents must be present at the facility.

It includes: detailed documentation for the installation; instructions for staff, prescribing a procedure for action when it is triggered; the act of acceptance of the fire-fighting water supply, or the test report of the installation. During the check, the correctness of the connection to the pipelines and the control unit, the placement of shut-off and control valves is also assessed.