NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 35

CODES, STANDARDS
AND COMPLIANCE

NFPA 20, Standard for the Installation
of Stationary Pumps for Fire Protection, will provide increased pressure, or
an alternate water source can be used
when the available flow is insufficient.
While a municipal water supply is
the most common source, since it's the
most readily available in many areas,
there are other possibilities if a municipal source isn't an option. Static water
supplies such as rivers, lakes, ponds,
or reservoirs can also work, but sprinkler systems reliant on these sources
must be installed with fire pumps to
ensure adequate pressure and flow are
met. Additionally, pumps need to be
arranged to avoid the intake of sediment and require screens or strainers
to help filter the water.
External tanks can also be used to
contain a water supply for a sprinkler system. Some tanks are elevated
and use gravity to help achieve the
desired flow and pressure, while others
need fire pumps or pressurized tanks
to achieve this. Requirements for the
design, construction, and operation of
water storage tanks can be found in
NFPA 22, Standard for Water Tanks for
Private Fire Protection.
Since the reliability of water supplies
is a critical part of a sprinkler system,
those supplies must be properly maintained if they are to function when
needed. NFPA 25, Standard for the
Inspection, Testing, and Maintenance
of Water-Based Fire Protection Systems,
contains requirements for maintaining
your water storage tanks.
It is important to consider all the
variables that can affect your water
supply-the potential for a community's
seasonal growth and the resulting daily
fluctuations in water supply are just a
couple of examples of the factors you
need to take into account when planning and installing a sprinkler system.
Failure to do so can lead to a system
that is undersupplied and may not
perform as designed.
Brian O'Connor is a Fire Protection engineer at
NFPA. NFPA members and AHJs can use the
Technical Questions tab to post queries on NFPA 13
at nfpa.org/13.

NFPA 101

Life safety in new
and existing structures

Verifying the emergency
lighting and exit marking
when reopening a building 
By Shawn Mahoney
s government officials

A

begin to develop and
release reopening procedures for businesses and
buildings that have been
relatively vacant for the past few
months due to the COVID-19 pandemic,
building owners and facility managers
are now trying to determine what
needs to be done to the building prior
to reintroducing occupants.

Regardless of the
level of ITM performed
during this interval,
it is imperative that
building owners
and facility managers
verify the performance
of all building fire
protection and life
safety systems prior
to reoccupying
the building.

During this unique time, NFPA has
encouraged the maintenance of all
fire protection and life safety systems.
However, it is possible that many of
the ongoing inspection, testing, and
maintenance (ITM) activities required
by locally enforced codes and standards may not have been completed
for a variety of reasons. Regardless of
the level of ITM performed during this

interval, it is imperative that building
owners and facility managers verify the
performance of all building fire protection and life safety systems prior to
reoccupying the building.
One of the life safety systems that
needs to be verified is the emergency
lighting and exit marking within the
building. NFPA 101®, Life Safety Code®,
requires emergency lighting to be
provided in designated stairs, aisles,
corridors, and passageways leading
to an exit in occupancies such as, but
not limited to, assembly, educational,
hotels, mercantile, and business. The
emergency lighting is designed to automatically illuminate for at least 90
minutes upon the loss of power, the
opening of a circuit breaker, or a manual
act such as the opening of a switch to
the normal lighting so the occupants
can egress the building safely.
Emergency lighting for buildings is
provided in two primary ways. One is
to provide the building with an emergency generator and automatic transfer
switch that will power a portion of the
building's lights upon loss of power.
If that is the case in your building,
the ITM performed on the generator must be completed per NFPA 110.
The second method consists of providing separate emergency lighting units
within the building that connect to the
building's power in order to charge the
units' batteries. Upon loss of power
to the unit, the on-board battery then
powers the emergency lights. In the
case of these separate units, we need to
perform ITM to ensure that the batteries are holding a charge, that the bulbs
work, and the charge held can operate
the lights for the required 90 minutes.
There are three techniques that can
be used to ensure that the emergency
lighting is operational: manual, selftest, and computer-based. Using the
manual method, the emergency lights
are operated monthly for at least 30
seconds by utilizing the manufacturer's procedure-typically a test button
that disconnects the main power to the
unit-to ensure that the battery is holding more than a residual charge and to
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NFPA Journal - July/August 2020

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