[Tvov]

So... we had a vehicle fire last night at a gas station. Not near the gas pumps, so no danger there. But...

After the call, we were talking about gas pumps and fires. According to one guy, automatic fire suppression systems are not required over the gas pumps? At least in Connecticut. The kind that spray down from above the pumps. I assumed they were required on new or remodeled gas stations.

The guy said that as far as he knew, they've had so many problems with those systems over the years that they haven't made them mandatory. You can YouTube videos of suppression systems activating accidentally.

Just curious if this is the same in other areas.

 

[jimcorbin]

Our local codes require them here.

 

[chiefjack]

To my knowledge and in my experience (40 years in fire service), they have never been mandated in the fire codes.

I have seen a few videos of the systems activation (prototypes mainly) and most of them were total flooding types and not very effective. A little wind blew the powder all over the place and dissipated it so it wasn't effective.

 

[Jshady1]

It will be 8 degrees here tomorrow night so a wet system is out of the question. Kill switch for pumps and there is no risk of explosion.

 

[WT]

I've not seen them at any gas stations in my area.

 

[Larry302]

In the early ‘80s i worked for a mechanical contractor who worked for oil companies. Pipelines ,tank farms, building gas stations and so on . Every single gas station we built had over head and lower suppression systems .

28 years FF from 1990 on in NYS every station had them that I was aware of , they made a mess but not my problem .