Project Name: Iconbay Tower
Location: 538 N.E. 28th Street, Miami, FL 33317
Property Type: 43 Story Residential High Rise
Synopsis: Low Zone Fire Pump required rebuild and would be out of commission for 2 months requiring a fire department fire watch.
Fire Watch Requirements
Any building containing a required Fire Protection system (fire alarm, sprinkler, fire pump, etc.) where the system is out of service for more than 4 hours and occupied; is required to establish a fire watch. One person shall be assigned to the fire watch, where this must be his/her only job duty during that time period and be provided with a least one method of contacting the Fire Department in an emergency. In addition, the building owner is required to have an impairment coordinator. The out of service equipment must be with a tagged out of service tag. The out of service tag must be placed at the fire alarm panel and the fire department connection. (Reference 2009 International Fire Code Section 901.7)
Steps to take for impairment:
- The extent and expected duration of the impairment have been determined.
- The area or buildings involved have been inspected and the increased risk determined.
- Recommendations have been submitted to the management/building owner.
- The Fire Department has been notified.
- The insurance carrier, Alarm Company, building owner/ manager and other authorities having jurisdictions have been notified.
- The supervisors in the area affected have been notified.
- A tag impairment system has been implemented.
- Necessary tools and materials have been assembled on the impairment site.
Solution: Install a temporary – Diesel Fire Pump
- Choose a location with the least impact on the existing system.
- Make sure the location of the TEMP FIRE PUMP and associated new piping and control wires is not subject to damage and not a significant impact tot existing operation – vehicles or pedestrians.
- Tie into the existing water supply to feed the TEMP PUMP.
- Tie into the discharge side of Fire Pump
- Connect control wires from the existing Low Zone Fire Pump controller to the TEMP PUMP.
- Programming for the Low Zone and High Zone are existing.
- Fire department connections are not impacted.
- Test Header is the operation and can be used for the testing of the TEMP FIRE PUMP.
- Make sure the low zone output is consistent with the original design so that the PRV fire hose valves are not over 175 PSI