OUR FIRE PROTECTION ENGINEERING SERVICES
Discover Our Expertise
Design Services
Experience
We have a combined 20+ years of fire protection design experience in-house. All design work is supervised, and when requested, stamped by a California licensed Fire Protection Engineer (FPE). Everyone in this industry is familiar with NFPA 13/R/D and NFPA 72, but did you know that there are California-specific amendments to all of these? Beyond that, local jurisdictions often have their own unique requirements. Don’t get stalled in plan check for lack of knowing the rules – put our experience to work. Construction administration service also available.
Challenging Projects
We can assist with challenging design projects that you may need help with, such as:
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Early Suppression Fast-Response (ESFR) Fire Sprinkler Systems
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Sprinkler protection for Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (ASRS)
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High-Piled Storage (as defined by the California Fire Code)
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Large Custom Residential and Commercial projects
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Projects with poor water supplies, such as low flow or pressure
Extra Strenuous
Requirements
We are also familiar with extra strenuous requirements like:
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FM Global Insured Properties
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Facilities covered by the Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI), formerly the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD).
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Department of Defense assets subject to the Unified Facilities Criteria (UFC)
Consulting Services
High-Piled Storage Analysis Planning Stage
Moving into a new warehouse or planning to install new racking at your current facility? Storage at heights greater than 12 feet (or 6 feet for high hazard commodities) triggers additional requirements, including the need for engineering analysis.
Fires within warehouses can be very challenging and can quickly overwhelm a sub-standard fire sprinkler system. Before you commit to a new building or rack installation, let us evaluate the existing fire sprinkler system and your storage plan to identify issues ahead of time.
Conceptual or Planning Stage and Value Engineering
We can review your project at an early stage, and where possible, explore approaches to reduce your facility’s fire hazard or identify better ways to implement the required fire protection systems. The goal is to arrive at a safe, code-compliant building, while minimizing expenses.
Hazardous Materials
Assessment
The requirements for the fire protection of hazardous materials are complex and nuanced. We can help you and your architect accurately classify your materials and develop a fire protection plan to satisfy your local fire department.
Fire Water Plan
(FWP)
Are you developing a piece of land off the beaten path? Perhaps for a quiet family house in the country, a commercial winery, or even a county-permitted cannabis operation?
If your property is not served by a water company, the responsibility to provide fire protection water infrastructure falls on you! Maybe you are served by a water company, but they can’t provide enough water for fire protection.
The fire protection requirements for new structures in rural areas have only gotten more stringent in recent decades, and chances are you will need to provide water storage, fire hydrants, and even fire sprinklers to satisfy your local jurisdiction’s requirements. We can develop a Fire Water Plan (FWP) for your property that includes a memorandum with fire water storage calculations, fire hydrant requirements, and fire sprinkler system requirements accompanied by a schematic-level layout of these items on your site plan. Once this plan is approved by your local fire authority, you have a road-map for your fire protection infrastructure to be implemented by the appropriate design professionals and contractors.
Plan Review
Whether you are an authority having jurisdiction (AHJ) needing help with plan reviews for construction permitting, or a design-build contractor needing a Fire Protection Engineer (FPE) review and stamp on your own plans – we are available.
Master Fire Protection Plan (MFPP)
For big projects, or where otherwise requested by your local fire authority, a Master Fire Protection Plan (MFPP) includes all the elements of a Fire Water Plan (FWP) along with additional considerations. Often required by CAL FIRE, the MFPP also addresses drive- or road-way requirements, fire alarm, and commodity storage, among others, to develop a comprehensive overview of your project’s needs.
Like the FWP, the MFPP is intended to be submitted to your local fire authority for review and approval. Once approved, it serves as a roadmap for your project, to be implemented by the appropriate design professionals and contractors.
On-Site Services
Fire Hydrant Flow
Testing
Does your fire authority require a Fire Protection Engineer (FPE) certified flow test for your project? We provide a complete fire hydrant flow testing service to get you accurate, engineer-certified data, backed by a detailed report. Our testing equipment is state of the art with each of our gauges assigned a unique serial number and calibrated annually – don’t trust just any pressure gauge!
High-Piled Storage Analysis Exisiting Facility
Do you have an existing warehouse, but are concerned about your existing fire sprinkler system’s adequacy? Maybe a recent fire department inspection has raised some concerns. Periodic fire sprinkler system inspections by a C-16 contractor are a great thing and should be continued, but not all contractors can identify where changes to your storage arrangement have resulted in a greater hazard than your sprinkler system can handle.
We can tour your existing facility and examine your storage arrangements and fire sprinkler system and help you get to the bottom of the situation. Don’t have any drawings or information on your existing fire sprinkler system? We can also generate as-built drawings and hydraulic models to determine your existing system’s capability.
As-Built Drawing Development
Often, by the time a building gets to be several decades old, the original construction documents get lost or discarded. Adding to this confusion, modifications to the fire protection systems by various tenants over time can result in a confusing mixture of pipes and valves within your building. We are able to survey existing sprinkler systems and generate as-built drawings from scratch, if necessary. These can be used as a starting point for a new tenant improvement project, performing hydraulic calculations, or just for your facility supervisor’s reference.