Firefighting Planning

By using various simulation program developed by ourselves, appropriate mapping of firefighting appliances, such as fire trucks, foam/water monitors,etc., can be studied for the case of tank fire or process area fire.
The following factors will be considered for the study.

  1. How wind direction and wind speed to affect the heat radiation and foam/water discharge (By heat radiation simulation and water/foam monitor mapping software (Trajectory simulation))
  2. Safe area range where heat flux is within safe level for a fire fighter (By heat radiation simulation)
  3. Necessity of water discharge for cooling of the adjacent tank or facilities depending on the heat flux on them (By heat radiation simulation and water/foam monitor mapping software (Trajectory simulation))
  4. Possibility of boil-over and prediction of its occurrence time ( By Boil-Over Simulation Program)
  5. prediction of fire extinguishing time for tank fire (By tank fire extinguishing simulation)
  6. Possibility of explosion and damaged area by its pressure wave (By Explosion Simulation Program (BLEVE/Fire-Ball/VCE)
  7. Gas concentration map showing the area of LEL concentration or more in case of leakage of hazardous material (By Gas Dispersion Simulation Program)

The simulation results above will be reflected to the consideration of firefighting strategy. 

 Experience the simulation

  • Free FM-VIEWER for Tank Fire Extinguishing Simulation, heat radiation simulation and water/foam monitor mapping software (Trajectory simulation) is available. You can experience what simulation results look like by using Sample simulation results shown on plant layouts.
    Please visit the pages of “Plant Disaster Preventing Simulation” and “Free FM-VIEWER Download” for more detail.
  • VIEWER demo movies are also available on the page of "Free FM-VIEWER Demo Movie."
    We recommend to check them out at first so that you can easily imagine what our simulation programs look like and will find the value of those programs.

 

Tank Fire 

Appropriate mapping drawing for fire trucks, foam/water monitors, hoses, etc., which are required for each tank fire will be prepared.

  • Graph or 3D indication of foam trajectory; to show trajectory under windy condition as well as no wind.
  • You can confirm if foam/water monitors are allocated in safe heat flux area of 2,000[kcal/m2/h] or lower.
  • Hose deployment route; to indicate the route from foam monitor to fire water intake.
  • Allocation of firefighting equipment; main fire water pump, booster pump, fire truck, ladder fire truck, foam liquid truck, water monitors, foam monitors etc.,
  • To show enlarged view the area around the allocated equipment to confirm the available space.
  • To show enlarged view to confirm any obstruction against foam or water discharge from any point of view.
  • Required water pressure at fire fighting equipment.
  • Any other required items will be shown on the drawing.
  

Prediction of extinguishing time and possibility of boil-over will be also studied by simulation.

To confirm no obstruction against water or foam discharge, 3D layout drawing is required.  FPEC will make 3D plant layout drawing by AutoCAD if 2D layout drawing is available. If no layout drawing is available, 3D layout drawing can be made from aerial photographic map. please ask us.

For your reference；Fire Fighting Plan for  Floating Roof Tank Fire By Large Foam Monitor System 

  • Large foam monitor system
    In October 2003, the roof of the floating roof tanks were sunk by the sloshing cause from long wave earthquake and a full surface fire occurred in the floating tanks of Oil Refinery in Hokkaido, Japan. A lot of fire extinguishing equipment were gathered, but the extinguishment of the fire was so hard.
    From that time, various groups had discussing to find an appropriate countermeasure. As a result of such discussions, Japan regulation “Disaster prevention law of petrochemical complex” was modified and a company having a 34m diameter floating roof tank. or larger shall provide a large capacity foam monitor system till 2008, November 30.

    Those companies having a floating tank are required to provide a large capacity foam monitor system in total as follows.
    Biggest Tanks size: 34m ~ 44m → 10,000lpm　　
    Biggest Tanks size: 45m ~ 59m → 20,000lpm 
    Biggest Tanks size: 60m ~ 74m → 40,000lpm 
    Biggest Tanks size: 75m ~ 89m → 50,000lpm 
    Biggest Tanks size: 90m ~ 99m → 60,000lpm 
    Biggest Tanks size: 100m ~ 　  → 80,000lpm

    However, the minimum capacity of each monitor shall be 10,000 lpm for those tanks smaller than 60m in diameter and 20,000 lpm for those larger than 60m. Water-supply facilities and foam concentrate which allow large capacity foam monitors to discharge continuously for 120 minutes must be provided. 

    The system consists of;
    - Portable fire water pump taking suction from open water such as sea
    - Large diameter high pressure hoses
    - Portable type large capacity foam monitors
    - Foam liquid (In Japan 1% AFFF-AR has been adopted)
    - Portable type foam proportioning unit
Fixed foam system and/or small foam streams from fire trucks cannot extinguish such a large tank open fire, because small amount of foam cannot build up foam bridge head on the burning oil surface. So, the large capacity foam monitor system is absolutely required for a fire of crude oil tank etc.,
FPEC will design the system.

 

  • Firefighting plan
    Large foam monitor system is a huge system, consisting of big size hoses, huge pump unit packages, foam liquid containers and proportioning unit and the trailer mounted monitor, so it takes a long time for allocating them around the fire. Every component is very heavy, so once installed, it is very difficult to move and to reallocate them. Therefore, the advance planning of the allocation is very important , considering various situation at a fire, such as wind direction, wind speed, traffic, space for laying hoses etc. For this purpose, tank fire extinguishing simulation program was developed and FPEC is entrusted with panning of firefighting by the large foam monitor system for your plant site. The pictures below are sample of the report for the planning. Every information is indicated in this A3 or A2 size drawing.



Process Plant Fire

Appropriate mapping drawing for fire trucks, foam/water monitors, hoses, etc., which are required for each fire in process area will be prepared.

  • Graph or 3D indication of water/foam trajectory from fire truck etc.; to show trajectory under windy condition as well as no wind.
  • You can confirm if sufficient water is being applied to the equipment on the elevated structures by water discharge.
  • You can confirm if foam/water monitors are allocated in safe heat flux area of 2,000[kcal/m2/h] or lower.
  • You can find if hose deployment route causes a traffic disturbance for fire trucks.
  • Allocation of firefighting equipment; fire truck, ladder fire truck, foam liquid truck, water monitors, foam monitors etc.,; mapping of those equipment is simulated by calculations for water/foam trajectory, heat radiation, explosion.
  • To show enlarged view the area around the allocated equipment to confirm the available space.
  • To show enlarged view to confirm any obstruction against foam or water discharge from any point of view.
  • Required water pressure at firefighting equipment.
  • Any other required items will be shown on the drawing.
  

To set a pool fire of fuel spill at any location and to indicate flame size on the 3D plant layout drawing. you can find equipment enveloped by the flame and safe area for fire fighters by heat radiation map, which are calculated by simulation.

 To confirm no obstruction against water or foam discharge, 3D layout drawing, just showing large equipment, structures, is required.  FPEC will make 3D plant layout drawing by AutoCAD if 2D layout drawing is available. If no layout drawing is available, 3D layout drawing can be made from aerial photographic map. please ask us.

 

For your reference; Firefighting plan for spill fire and cooling by water discharge 

The figure below shows the case that a spill fire and a tank fire occur simultaneously, and water and foam are discharged from fire trucks and fixed water monitors under windy condition. For this drawing, heat radiation and water/foam trajectory have been simulated.




The figure below shows the simulation result of study to confirm if equipment installed on the elevated floor of the structure are well cooled by water discharge streams from fixed water monitors under windy condition.  As you can see, it is easy to confirm the water coverage visually.
The trajectory characteristic of a water or foam nozzle depends on each manufacture's model. At least one trajectory curve obtained by an actual discharge is required to input the nozzle data into the simulation program.


 

Firefighting strategy for large capacity crude oil tank (as reference)

In case of fire at a large capacity crude oil tank, various judgements will be required depending on situations.
Regarding to firefighting tactics and the concerns for large capacity tank fires, LASTFIRE, consisting of oil majors, is recommending useful data every year. And also, very beneficial information are available in international standards and guidelines.
We will investigate these information including fire incident investigation reports etc. and provide standard guidelines or reference reports regarding firefighting strategy manuals based on our experience and knowledge of plant disaster engineering.

Major investigating items；

  • Recommendations from LASTFIRE, API
  • NFPA
  • International standards and guidelines
  • Possibilities of boil-over and its countermeasures; using our boil-over simulation program that can calculate temperature and growth rate of hot zone, cooling time after extinguishing fire etc.
  • Consideration and actual measures depending on situations, such as the timing when floating roof is sunk in a tilted state
  • Whether oil should be transferred to other tanks or not
  • Safety measures after extinguishing fire, sometimes boil-over may occur after extinguishment