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How Three Level Of Fire Protection Can Help Your Data Center

If your business revolves around data centers, you know how important proper fire protection can be. There are three key components to any safe and secure data center, both to maximize the building’s response to fires and to protect the data within. Do you have the right protection? Premier Fire Alarm Systems in Miami, Florida, has been helping businesses for years in outfitting their buildings for whatever comes next. 

 

The Standards

There are two main safety standards the US abides by, which are NFPA 75 and 76. NFPA 75 is the minimum standard of fire safety and protection a building can offer to pass national building codes requirements and not face a penalty. The requirements of NFPA 75 include a fire sprinkler system that reaches all aisles of the data center, an evacuation plan, functioning smoke detectors and flame-resistant equipment. The NFPA provides similar requirements but also includes more regulations concerning telecommunication services, such as phones, internet and videos. If you think any of your pre-existing fire safety equipment is out of date or in need of repairs, contact a fire alarm company right away to ensure everyone’s safety. 

 

Fire Protection

Proper fire safety calls for three levels of protection for your data center, which are the building level, the room level, and the rack level. The first level of fire safety is concerned with keeping the building and it’s occupants safe from any fires. The methods used to achieve this safety are measures such as fire sprinkler systems, fire extinguishers every 3,000 feet, and passive fire protection, which is the installation of fire-rated floor assemblies and firewalls that act as a passive means of stopping potential fire spread throughout the building. 

 

The second level, or the room level, is where the NFPA regulations start to come into play. The standards of NFPA require fire sprinkler systems and offer three different systems for data centers as a means of helping to protect the equipment as much as possible. One of the models is the typical wet sprinkler system, which is quite damaging to data but very effective in putting out fires. Even small drips or leaks from a wet sprinkler system can be severely hazardous in these buildings. A pre-action fire sprinkler system requires two points of fire detection before it turns on, ensuring there is an immediate threat before starting. Although this system still uses water, it gives more time before turning on and potentially still saves some data in the event of a false alarm. The clean agent suppression systems, however, don’t use water but an inert gas or clean agent to extinguish and suppress the fire. A main proponent of using this sprinkler system instead is obviously the data protection it offers, as it won’t be damaging the equipment in the case of a fire. Room-level protection also includes fire detection systems, which can greatly combat any serious damage done due to fires. 

 

Rack Level Protection

The third level of protection deals with preventing further damage to the rack level of data. Fire detection can be difficult early on at times in data centers with so many electrical components enclosed on one floor. With rack level protection, many data centers can extinguish fires early on in their stages, minimizing the potential of a more serious fire to spread. The most common rack level protection measures include the use of pre-engineered and automatic fire suppression systems. They can be installed within the equipment, and can detect and suppress fires before they are sensed by the larger room or building room level of fire detection. This further helps to diminish any potential damages sustained to sensitive equipment during a fire, protecting you and the data within. 

 

Contact Us

Are you ready to ensure your data center has the fire protection it needs? Premier Fire Alarm Systems can assist you by inspecting the structures and fire safety to begin with, and help you make the necessary changes to provide the very best in fire detection in Miami. Call us today!

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Premier Fire