Chemical fires pose several hazards that can be more dangerous and complex compared to ordinary fires. These hazards can affect both human health and the environment. Therefore, it’s important to safeguard your organisation against the devastation and hazards associated with chemical fires.
One question we often get asked by our customers is ‘What is the difference between fire suppression systems and sprinkler systems.” It’s an important question to answer, as there are some fundamental differences between a fire suppressant and a standard sprinkler system – particularly, how these can affect the flammable chemicals in your operations.
In this post, we’ll be explaining the situations that would benefit from a fire suppression system and why a blanket approach to fire protection is never a good idea. But first, let’s have a look at battery fires and chemical fires – and how they can create a risk that requires dedicated fire protection systems.
Key Hazards of Chemical Fires
Due to the hazardous nature of chemicals in the workplace, fires involving dangerous goods or hazardous substances can do more than threaten safety through the blaze.
Chemical fire hazards may include:
Health Hazards
- Inhalation Risk: Chemical fires can produce harmful fumes and gases such as carbon monoxide and hydrogen chloride, which can be deadly when inhaled.
- Respiratory Issues: Exposure to these gases can cause respiratory problems, including coughing, difficulty breathing, and lung damage.
- Eye Irritation: Chemical vapours and smoke can cause eye irritation or damage, leading to pain and potential vision loss.
- Absorption: Some chemicals can be absorbed through the skin or mucous membranes, leading to systemic toxicity that affects internal organs.
Environmental Hazards
- Runoff: Water used to extinguish chemical fires can carry hazardous substances into the soil and water bodies, contaminating drinking water supplies and ecosystems.
- Air Pollution: Pollutants are often released into the atmosphere, contributing to air quality degradation and posing long-term environmental and health risks. Chemical fires often result in the evacuation of nearby communities.
- Residue: Residual chemicals and firefighting agents can seep into the soil, affecting its quality and potentially entering the food chain.
Firefighting Hazards
- Reactivity: Some chemicals can react violently when exposed to fire, leading to explosions that pose a significant risk to firefighters and nearby personnel.
- Secondary Fires: Reactivity can cause secondary fires that complicate firefighting efforts and increase the risk of injury.
Incompatibility Hazards
- Chemical Reactions: Certain chemicals may react adversely with water or standard firefighting agents, necessitating specialised knowledge and equipment to handle the fire safely.
- Electrical Equipment: Water can’t be used to extinguish fires when there are live electrical currents in the equipment or building, as this can result in electrocution.
Remember, some chemicals can react with water, therefore water based extinguishing methods may not be safe or effective.
Why is Fire Protection Important?
While emergency preparedness and fire protection is necessary for any home or workplace, it’s vital for any business that may carry hazardous or flammable chemicals.
Whether it’s a bushfire that threatens your flammable substances, or an inhouse fire due to an ignition source — such as a welding arc, hot surface or naked flame — chemicals involved in fires can threaten human safety, the natural environment, property and vehicles, as well as the firefighting efforts of emergency services.
Therefore, investing in fire protection suitable for your onsite chemicals is an important consideration for any business carrying dangerous goods or hazardous substances.
In the next section, we’ll dive into the differences between fire protection, so you can determine what considerations to make in your own business.
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What is the Difference Between Chemical Fire Suppression and Sprinkler Systems?
The primary difference between chemical fire suppression systems and sprinkler systems lies in the method and medium used to extinguish a fire.
Chemical Fire Suppression Systems
These systems use specialised chemicals to suppress fires. The chemicals work by either interrupting the chemical reaction of the fire, displacing oxygen, or cooling the fire.
They typically act faster than sprinkler systems, suppressing fires quickly.
Since they don't use water, they prevent water damage to sensitive equipment, electronics, or documents. These systems are ideal chemical storage areas where water damage would be catastrophic.
Chemical fire suppression systems can also be designed to target specific high-risk areas or equipment, such as dangerous goods stores.
Water Sprinkler Systems
Standard sprinklers utilise water as the primary extinguishing agent. They are activated through the heat from the fire, releasing water to control and extinguish the fire.
These systems are generally cost-effective and suitable for all environments, as only water is used to put out the blaze. However, these are not suitable for all types of fires, nor are they useful when there is electrical equipment involved.
Spinkler systems may cause significant water damage to the property, and they generally take longer to activate than fire suppression systems. There may also be an ineffective targeting of the blaze in larger or complex environments.
Sprinklers are suitable for a wide range of settings and are particularly effective in life safety applications.
Both systems have their specific use cases and are often chosen based on the type of environment they will protect, the nature of potential fire hazards, and the value of the assets at risk.
Challenges of Lithium-ion Battery Fires
Lithium-ion batteries — otherwise known as LIBs or Li-ion batteries — are generally safe when operated and handled properly. However, they do contain volatile chemicals that can lead to explosions and fires. Many issues with incorrect storage, handling or battery malfunctions may spark a lithium-ion battery fire.
Another consideration is the level of difficulty associated with extinguishing lithium-ion battery fires. Not only are you dealing with an article with flammable electrolyte within the cell, but you’re also managing a battery that can re-ignite due to thermal runaway. This means that a battery may be extinguished, only to re-ignite again and again.
This in turn may affect other batteries in the area due to the release of heat and the triggering of thermal runaway in other cells.
In addition to these LIB firefighting challenges, water reacts with the lithium-ion battery off-gases, which creates a dangerous situation with run off that can threaten the health of the environment and community.
DID YOU KNOW One of the gases released in a battery fire is Hydrogen Fluoride (HF). When it reacts with water, HF creates Hydrofluoric acid – which is an extremely dangerous substance that can harm humans and other living organisms.
Fire Suppression for your Business
If you’re thinking about increasing the safety of your chemical stores, get in touch with our experienced Dangerous Goods Storage Consultants who can help you with safe storage and fire suppression to suit your specific needs. We are the exclusive Australian distributors of the German-engineered Pyrobubbles® technology, offering a range of Battery Safes and Charging Cases filled with revolutionary fire protection solution.
Alternatively, to reduce fire risk in your operations, why not download our free eBook? This book offers a risk assessment approach to many types of workplace batteries, including LIBs, so you can work on identifying and controlling fire risk.