'BIG BOX' STRUCTURES

摘要

I have good news and bad news. The bad news first: The current trend is to build a 100,000-plus-square-foot building constructed mostly out of steel that houses excessive amounts of combustibles. The good news is that it is required to be protected by automatic sprinkler systems—big automatic sprinklers systems. A working fire in one of these "big box" stores will tax the largest departments in the country. Let's do some math: Length x Width divided by 3.1 know that those who espouse this fire flow formula say it is only "relatively" accurate for flows up to 1,000 gpm. To my way of thinking, it still provides a rule of thumb for fire flow to start with—and even I can do the math: 100,000/3 = 33,000 gpm. Let's see: How many 1,500-gpm engines will that require if the building is totally involved?