Do Your Building Renovation Projects Require Creative Fire Code Solutions?
A recent project triggered a number of problem areas and required we employ our creativity and deep knowledge of fire protection to succeed. The client wanted to renovate an existing facility that had been built in the early…
Is Egress Analysis Impacted during Your Incremental Build Projects?
Travel distance and means of egress have become increasingly popular concerns. As owners expand buildings, they often increase the distance to the nearest exit to the point of violating code requirements. We recently consulted…
Fire Code Requirements for Rack Storage and Atriums
Did the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) over your project recently reject your design due to improper smoke control in your building? Do you need to calculate proper exhaust and convince the AHJ your structure will meet or…
Cost-Effective Fire Hazard Mitigation
Fire protection engineering is normally understood by its technical appliances like sprinklers, fire alarms, and fire hazard warning signs. Although these tools are extremely effective at reducing risk and dealing with…
How Fire Protection Engineers Advocate for You with Your Industrial/Commercial Insurance Carrier
The world of a fire protection engineer is moving more quickly than ever before. Property insurance carriers are upgrading their compliance standards constantly. This affects everyone attached to commercial and industrial…
How to Negotiate with Insurers on Fire Hazards
An insurance company’s success is partially due to their ability to reduce its exposure to risk. Fire hazards are one of the risks that a building owner would want insured. To provide a building owner with insurance in cases of…
Fire Protection Engineering Standards for Welding and Hot Work Hazards
Hot appliances and open flames are a proven source of danger for maintenance and repair crews. Between 1990 and 2010, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) identified over 60 fatalities resulting from…
Structure Fire Hazard in the Home: Children Playing with Fire
“Little rascal” isn’t quite accurate. Most people do not realize that children can pose a significant fire hazard in the home. According to a report by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), an average of 56,300 fires…
Fire Hazards in Nightclubs: What Architects Can Learn from Brazil and Rhode Island
Earlier this year, a nightclub in Brazil caught fire and caused over 240 fatalities. Most of the victims were college students who had come for a Federal University of Santa Maria event. The party featured a band and…
Texas Community Devastated by Fertilizer Plant Explosion
Harrington Group is sending our thoughts and prayers out to the small town of West, Texas today in the midst of a devastating tragedy. Last night, a fertilizer plant in West, Texas exploded. Initial estimates say that between…
Think Personal Safety Before Firing up that Torch
Last month, a worker at a Wisconsin golf course was critically injured when a 55-gallon drum that he was working on exploded. Authorities say that a UPS driver found the 35-year old victim semi-conscious on the floor in a pool…
Decrypting Amazon Web Services (AWS) for Fire Protection Analysis
Earlier this year, Phil Friday worked with Thunderhead Engineering’s Bryan Klein to pioneer a new IT strategy for running FDS and Smoke View in the Cloud. Thunderhead Engineering developed PyroSim, a graphical user interface…
Commercial Fire Protection Engineering with PyroSim
When planning a unique structure, building designers may find their plans depart from certain building and fire code regulations. A small complication or oversight in code compliance can throw everything off schedule and…
Enhancing FDS Analysis
New computing architectures allow sophisticated, powerful fire modeling simulations that are crucial for the future of fire safety. However, the computing resources that are needed to use these tools has historically been…