Annabhau Sathe Auditorium, Pune

Fire is a serious hazard having devastating effect on building resulting in destruction of created facility and human life and property. Fire protection of building is, therefore, an essential requirement. When a fire breaks out it can have a devastating effect causing loss of precious human life in addition to loss of property and damage to created facility. Some of the factors which make fire a dangerous hazard could be the speed with which it can spread, poisonous smoke fumes generated and large numbers of people who can be affected particularly in a high rise building. For understanding fire fighting systems, we undertook a case study at Annabhau Sathe memorial Auditorium at Bibwewadi in Pune.

Fire is defined as a process of combustion characterized by the emission of heat accompanied by smoke of flame. A fire triangle can be explained in chemical terms: When a fuel (inflammable material) and sufficient heat comes together in presence of air (oxygen) a volatile and dangerous situation develops and fire breaks out creating more heat thus more fires in a cascading phenomenon. Removal of any one link can prevent fire breakout or in case of fire, extinguishing it. Flames are generated in any fire as regions of reacting gases releasing chemical energy. The flame gases are turbulent and fluctuating, radiating heat and light from partially burnt carbonaceous particles (smoke and soot). Being higher than surrounding air, these flame gases become diluted by entrained air. A fire triangle is hence made up of oxygen, heat and fuel.

A dry riser is a main vertical pipe intended to distribute water to multiple levels of a building or structure as a component of the fire suppression systems. The pipe is maintained empty of water. The dry riser is the opposite of a "wet riser" or "wet standpipe" system where the pipes are kept full of water for manual or automatic fire fighting operations. Dry risers have to have fire engine access within 18 m of the dry riser inlet box. Dry risers in occupied buildings have to be within a fire resistant shaft, usually one of a building's fire escape staircase enclosures. Depending on regional nomenclature, the term "dry riser" may refer to a standpipe, intended to provide water to fire hose connections, or a vertical main pipe in an automatic dry pipe fire sprinkler system. A dry standpipe comprises a fire department connection, which is an external access point at ground level through which water can be pumped from the fire department's fire engine pump to firefighters' fire hose attachments on each floor, whereas a dry pipe fire sprinkler system is a network of pipes connected to fixed sprinklers inside a building, which are full of air until one of the sprinklers is triggered.

A typical building normally has two or more shafts, which travel from the lowest level of the building to its terrace. Such shafts are normally used to carry the piping for the wet-riser system. All wet-riser pipes remain charged with water at system pressure. The opening of a hydrant landing valve or hose reel on any floor reduces the pressure in the pipeline and starts the hydrant pump. Apart from the wet riser system, hydrant points should also be provided at strategic locations around the building at ground level. These yard hydrants are of immense use in fire fighting. Water must be made available through reservoirs in adequate quantities at convenient locations. Periodic drills should be conducted by opening the hydrant valves to ensure proper operation of the system.