What is New – NFPA 13 2022 Edition

September 21st, 2022

The newest edition of NFPA 13 will be adopted as early as 2022. However, the vast majority of states and jurisdictions will be adopting the new standard in January of 2023 with California being one of these states. In this article we will be focusing on the latest changes to the storage chapters and as they compare to the 2019 Edition of this standard.  Read more

KnA Seminar HazMat and Marijuana Facilities

September 18th, 2022

On September 28th this seminar sponsored by the State Fire Marshal Division and Fire Marshals Association of Minnesota for the 2022 Annual Minnesota Fire Marshals Conference will provide a basic understanding of the hazards associated with the operation of marijuana growing and processing facilities. The seminar is targeted towards fire and building inspectors, fire prevention officers and professionals. Discussed will be the latest fire and building codes and regulations.  Read more

Protection of Storage Under Sloped Ceilings Larger Than 2 in 12

December 3rd, 2020

NFPA’s Fire Protection Research Foundation published a report on large-scale fire tests performed at FM Global for rack storage of Group A Plastics under sloped ceilings with slopes steeper than 2 in 12. An excerpt of this report is presented summarizing the results from these suppression tests on ESFR sprinklers with a K-Factor of 16.8. General guidance for sprinkler design is provided by the authors.  Read more

K&A Web Tools Updated

November 3rd, 2020

We updated our popular web tools, i.e. the Asphyxiation Calculator and the NFPA 13 2016 to 2019 Edition Cross Reference Search. Adobe and Microsoft discontinued the support of Flash based applications in 2020. These new non-Flash based versions of our web tools and applications have the same functionality as the previous versions.  Read more

KnA Seminar – High-Piled Storage

November 1st, 2019

On November 13th in Carlsbad, CA, KnA will present a seminar on requirements contained in Chapter 32, High-Piled Combustible Storage of the 2019 Edition of the California Fire Code (CFC). We will discuss existing and new fire codes of the CFC and their references to NFPA 13 2016 (NFPA 13 2019).  Read more

NFPA 13 2019 To 2016 Cross Reference

October 21st, 2019

NFPA 13 2019 provided a ‘roadmap’ included in the back of the standard for 2019 section cross references for many of the sections found in the 2016 Edition. While this ‘roadmap’ table is useful, it is not a complete reference by any means and as a result, users quite often are left wondering ‘where it all went’. We decided to offer a search engine that simplifies the search process.  Read more

KnA Seminar – Storage Requirements: NFPA 13 2019 Ed. and IFC

July 10th, 2019

On October 4th in San Diego, CA, K&A will present a course on basic requirements contained in Chapter 32, High-Piled Combustible Storage of the International Fire Code (IFC) and NFPA 13 2019 Edition. Smoke and heat vents in context of sprinkler protection will be reviewed along with aisle and maximum storage dimension requirements. Discussions also include IFC requirements for protecting storage and their effect on sprinkler system specification.  Read more

NFPA 13 2019 – Opinion on the In-Rack Chapter

July 8th, 2019

The new layout of NFPA 13 may be beneficial for new users of the standard, but it can also create confusion and dismay for experienced users as they will have to search and relocate familiar regulations and determine how these new, sometimes reworded and reformatted sections, tables, and paragraphs relate to each other. This is especially true when looking at the new in-rack Chapter 25 of NFPA 13. After using the new standard for some time now, and Chapter 25 in particular, which left me wondering on more than one occasion, I feel a need to share my experiences and observations concerning this steep learning curve. Here is a summary of my conclusions on the reformat.  Read more

ESFR K-28 For 50 ft Storage without In-Racks

June 27th, 2019

FMBased on the recent successful fire test of 50-ft rack storage in single and double row racks with cartoned unexpanded Group A Plastics (and encapsulated/ unencapsulated Class I–IV commodities), FM Global approved a new type of ESFR sprinkler for high-challenge storage applications, the ESFR K-28. It is approved as a ceiling-only, quick-response, wet-pipe, pendent storage sprinkler.  Read more

Lithium-Ion Based Energy Storage Systems

June 17th, 2019

ESSLithium-Ion based energy storage systems have become increasingly important in recent years, and as a result much effort has been expended in describing and solving the fire protection concerns regarding these types of (battery) systems. The 2018 International Fire Code added Section 608, FM Global released DS 5-33 and the National Fire Protection Association proposed Standard 855 to address concerns arising from the storage and use of these systems. However, only limited test data are available  Read more