A given jurisdiction may have requirements that are less strict, more strict, or which include additional requirements based on other Codes. It is important to note however, that requirements can vary by jurisdiction and authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs). In both cases, the fire department must be notified. For water-based fire protection systems, fire watches are required for impairments lasting 10 hours or more in a 24-hour period. Basic Requirements for Fire WatchesĪccording to the NFPA, for fire alarm systems, a fire watch is required if the system is impaired for more than four hours in a 24-hour period. It is also important to note that the requirement to implement a fire watch applies regardless of the nature of the impairment and is triggered by the amount of time that the system is impaired.
While the NFPA standards do not specifically address the question of how much of the fire protection system must be impaired to trigger the fire watch requirement, a fire watch should be implemented any time the system or a significant portion of the system cannot operate as intended.
Impairments to any of the following types of equipment or components of your system could trigger the requirement for a fire watch: The Code also covers preplanned impairments that occur when the system must be shut down for a period of time to allow for open flame operations such as welding in an area with automatic fire detection systems or disconnecting the system for the purposes of testing and maintenance.įor sprinklers and other water-based fire protection systems, the NFPA 72 defines an impairment as an “abnormal condition” that renders your system or some component or function of it inoperable. Protecting the public from fire or life safety dangersĮmergency impairments can include an interruption in the water supply to the system, frozen or ruptured pipes, equipment failure, and any impairments that are identified during inspections of the system.Notifying the fire department, the building occupants, or both of an emergency.In Chapter 3 of the LSC, a fire watch is defined as the assignment of one or more people with the following tasks: This post will help you learn more about fire watches - what they are, what they entail, and the circumstances in which they must be implemented - as well as a discussion of the options available to building owners in conducting them. And, according to Annex A of the NFPA 72 Fire Alarm and Signaling Code, a fire watch may also be needed in cases where the fire alarm signaling system is impaired. While the requirement to respond to impairments in your fire protection system comes from the LSC, the specific requirements for doing so reside in Chapter 15 of the NFPA 25 Standard for the Inspection, Testing, and Maintenance of Water-Based Fire Protection Systems, which specifies the requirements for how to respond to sprinkler system impairments. If your building has a fire alarm system and/or a water-based fire protection system such as a sprinkler system, you may be required by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 101 Life Safety Code (LSC) to implement a fire watch should that system become impaired.
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