certifiedfire.com

Certified Fire Opens NEW Training Center

admin — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 22:02:40 +0000

Certified Fire is proud to announce the opening of its new onsite training center. Our steady growth over the last two decades is a result of always meeting the needs of our very loyal customers. In order to enhance our expertise, we offer cutting edge fire suppression technology to all of our technicians.

The training room, located in our home office, features the Fike SHP-Pro, Cheetah Classic, Cheetah Xi suppression systems as well as a Fike EPACO Explosion protection system. In addition, advanced teaching opportunities are offered on the Notifier NFS2-640 Fire Alarm system.

Certified Fire is dedicated to training our staff in the most advanced technologies and techniques. Our hands-on learning center allow us to experiment with various concepts in-house resulting in seamless execution once onsite.“When designing the new training center, we kept our customers at the forefront of our minds. It was our goal to offer innovative instruction to our entire team. We realize this is essential to maintaining our position as an industry leader,” said Joe Konenkamp, Vice President of Certified Fire.

Certified Fire is a leader in design, installation, monitoring, and maintenance of fire alarm and detection, fire suppression, and explosion protection systems. We represent Notifier, Fike, and Ansul; three of the best known and highest quality manufacturers in the fire protection industry. Certified Fire is registered at the state and federal level as a veteran-owned small business. You can learn more about Clean Agent Fire Suppression, Fire Alarm Systems, Dust Testing and Explosion Protection Systems at www.certifiedfire.com.

Thanksgiving Day Home Fires

admin — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 18:39:13 +0000

There are more home fires on Thanksgiving than any other day of the year. Fire departments respond to three times the normal number of incidents, according to the National Fire Protection Association.

Be forewarned that it CAN happen to you. Each year hundreds of people in the United States are killed in fires that involve cooking equipment and thousands more are injured. These incidents also account for more than half a billion dollars in direct property damage to homes and their contents annually.

So, be safe and be prepared this holiday season. Make sure your smoke alarms are working before that turkey goes in the oven! Test smoke detectors by pushing the test button to verify that the device beeps or rings loudly. Also, make sure you have a fire extinguisher in the kitchen that is easily accessible.

Wishing you a very happy and safe holiday season!

Click here for more Thanksgiving safety tips.

Click here for more info on your home smoke detection.

Certified Fire Celebrates 20 Years

admin — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 18:40:14 +0000

What were YOU doing when you were twenty? Some of us may be proud to say we were in school, starting a career or exploring the world. Others of us might not want to reveal exactly what we were up to during that time of our lives. This October, Certified Fire Protection turns twenty. In terms of business, twenty years means established. What started as a small two-man operation is now one of the premier fire alarm and suppression system contractors in the country.

Certified Fire was founded at the end of the “Halon era”. It was during this time that business owners and operators with mission critical facilities started to understand that a little extra investment up front could save millions in the event of a disaster. As time went on, Certified Fire adjusted to the ban on Halon and began to offer new and different solutions to meet client needs. Because of this and the fact that we were the first of only a handful of companies that offered clean agent suppression systems and service in the Southeast, we thrived.

We not only experienced growth spurts but also a few growing pains. Joe Konenkamp, one of the first employees of Certified Fire who is now the Vice President, remembers well the hard road that was traveled to get to where we are today. “We entered this industry with a desire to surpass the standard in our business. We focused on developing relationships and providing quality systems with exceptional service – even if that meant that everyone in the company was out on a job site all day, all night and all weekend long to meet a deadline.”

Certified Fire owes much of its success to such companies as The Home Depot, Mercedes Benz, the University of Georgia, Emory University, Google, AT&T, RIM, Coca Cola Enterprises, Imperial Sugar, and Georgia Power.

“We have flourished on our 20-year journey despite some set-backs along the way. In fact, one of our most successful years in business was 2009, despite the dismal economic conditions surrounding us. We executed two of the largest data center projects in our company history last year and did it concurrently.”

Now, twenty years after its inception, Certified Fire remains committed to the industry by offering quality systems, expert technicians, and friendly service. Konenkamp says “We anticipate that the next twenty years will be just as successful, if not more so, than the last.”

Then...

Now...

Dangerous and Deadly: Dust Explosions

admin — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 19:41:26 +0000

Dust explosions happen in an instant, or I should say that they happen in milliseconds. Thus, immediate detection is the difference between containment and catastrophe; between life and death. Are you at risk?

Many of the dust and flammable particles present in industrial process facilities are explosive. What seems like the most benign substance becomes extremely dangerous when in the form of dust. Products like sugar, egg white, garlic powder, coffee and lactose have potential to cause violent explosions when reduced to dust.
Combustible dust fires in process equipment happen daily. Simply abiding by current combustible dust industry standards and OSHA regulations is not enough to prevent a disaster. What actions should you take?

1. Have your process materials tested for explosibility.
2. Employ proper detection, isolation, ventilation or suppression systems.
3. Maintain good housekeeping practices.

Explosibility testing can help determine the potential for a dust explosion, as well as provide a basis for safe plant design and operating parameters. Tests are performed in accordance with ASTM standards and some of the most common are as follows:

• Explosibility Screening – determines the potential for combustion
• Dust/Gas Explosibility – measures explosion severity of a fuel-air mixture.
• Minimum Explosive Concentration of Dusts – measures the relationship between dust concentration and explosion severity
Read more about explosion testing.

If you find you are at risk you have several options for protection.
1. Explosion Venting – One of the most common and effective forms of passive explosion protection, it provides overpressure protection by providing a planned pathway for the expanding gases to escape.
2. Explosion Isolation – Prevent the spread of a flame from one part of the process to another by using isolation valves and/or chemical barriers.
3. Explosion Suppression – Detect and chemically suppress an explosion in its earliest stages before a disaster.
To learn more about what a dust explosion is and how they occur, watch the Chemical Safety Board’s dust explosion video.

Certified Fire Awarded MARTA Project

admin — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 18:00:08 +0000

Certified Fire is working with MC Dean to provide the Notifier Fire Alarm and Clean Agent Fire Suppression Systems for MARTA’s fire protection upgrade. Check out highlights on this project in the Atlanta Business Chronicle article below.

MARTA has picked M.C. Dean Inc. to modernize MARTA’s outdated fire protection system — a $32 million project paid for by the federal stimulus program.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grants will fund the upgrading and enhancing of MARTA’s fire alarm, sprinkler and clean-agent suppression systems throughout more than 100 MARTA’s facilities, including all 38 rail stations.

Dulles, Va.-based M.C. Dean also will replace MARTA’s various disparate systems with new systems that will be networked back to central monitoring points.

The majority of MARTA’s fire protection systems were installed during the 1970’s and 1980’s in accordance with the governing codes of that time. Since then, technology has advanced and fire codes have improved, MARTA said.

“The M.C. Dean fire protection designers and project management team designated to run this project have extensive experience on similar projects at some of the world’s largest transportation and public use facilities,” said Mark Tibbetts, general manager for M.C. Dean’s regional headquarters, in a statement. “Also, because we are using local resources operating out of our Suwanee office to engineer, construct, integrate and commission the system, the ARRA grant money is going to be spent locally.”

Lean Mean Clean Machine

admin — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 19:37:52 +0000

What comes to mind when you hear the words “fire protection”? When I am out and about talking to people about what we do, they automatically think I am in the fire sprinkler business. Thus a dialogue begins about the difference between water based and clean agent fire systems. The latter is far more effective in special hazard applications, but far less widely known.

High value assets like MRI machines, museum archives and computer servers call for an alternative to water based fire suppression. Who wants water resting in potentially leaky pipes or broken sprinkler heads ready and waiting to discharge thousands of gallons of water on 100,000 square feet of critical-to-your-operation computer servers acting as the center of your business universe? NO ONE!

So the halon clean agents were born and a crucial need was met. It sounds simple in theory yet so many don’t employ this age old technology. Clean agents have a changed a bit since the “old days”, so what are they now?

The fire protection industry now employs HFCs (hydro fluorocarbons), Flouroketones and Inert Gases (Each getting more and more environmentally sustainable, will discuss this in a later blog). HFCs were developed first to replace halon gases banned from production around 1989 because of there ozone depleting characteristics. Clean agents are used to a suppress fire without damaging sensitive electronics or assets, without disruption of business operations and with no clean up required. A few dollars up front during construction could save you or your client an enormous financial loss in the future.

Let’s put a dollar value on downtime. Even though fire instances are rare, it’s all about minimizing the risk. An industry report from January of 2004 estimated the downtime impact per minute for several types of businesses:

Business	Cost per Minute
Supply Chain Management	$11,000
Electronic Commerce	$10,000
Customer Service Center	$3,700
ATM	$3,500
Financial Management	$1,500
Messaging	$1,000
Infrastructure	$700

*Data from Alinenan ROI Report, January of 2004

Now let’s do the math. An e-commerce outfit could stand to lose over $2,000,000.00 in 4 hours in the event of a fire or release of a water based fire system when a clean agent system may only have cost them as little as $100,000.00 to begin with.

Clean agents are the most effective, cost efficient method for protecting critical assets. They are truly lean, mean, clean fire protection machines.

So what kind of lean mean clean fire protection machines are available? Clean agents are typically broken down into 3 categories – HFCs (hydro fluorocarbons), Inert Gases and Flouroketones, each with their own pros and cons. In regard to design and suppression effectiveness and efficiency the three can be compared as follows.

The Agent	The Pros	The Cons
HFCs HFC-227ea/FM-200 FE-25/HFC-125/ ECARO FE-13 FE-36	Lower storage volume Smaller system footprint Lower enclosure pressure Lower Cost Good flow characteristics for design/install Safe for occupied spaces	Not as “green” or “sustainable” as Inert Gases or Flouroketones Less agent required to protect space than Inert Gas
CO2*	Low cost agent Low cost maintenance Cost effective for protection of large areas	Not safe for occupied spaces!
Flouroketones FK-5-1-12/Novec-1230/Sapphire	Safe for occupied spaces More “sustainable” agent than HFCs	Must use 11% more gas as compared to HFCs Flow characteristics are not as desirable
Inert Gases IG-541/Inergen IG-55 /Argonite	Best flow characteristics for design/install Safe for occupied spaces Most “sustainable” agent	Higher enclosure pressure and the need for venting Higher storage volume Larger system footprint

You’ll notice sustainability mentioned several times in the chart above. Increased awareness of green house gas emissions, global warming potential and atmospheric lifetime are now factors making their way into the decision making process when evaluating the type of fire protection for your hazard.

Your client’s initiative, the company image and values, your company’s commitment to the environment and community and/or the project budget will dictate your choice of clean agent.

Now hopefully you can see that the dilemma isn’t whether to use whether to use a clean agent, it’s which clean agent to use.

How Green Can You Get?

admin — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 19:31:43 +0000

Now that the Construction Industry is on the bandwagon of sustainability, all kinds of words, phrases, requirements, certifications and incentives are tossed around and thrown about, pushing us not only to consider what will best solution to protect our fire hazard but what will also protect our environment.

What factors are considered when looking for an environmentally friendly fire protection agent?

· Global Warming Potential (GWP) – how much the substance will contribute to global warming over a specific period

· Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP) – how much the substance is going to degrade the ozone layer

· Atmospheric Lifetime – the time it takes for the atmosphere to go back to normal after experiencing an increase of a certain substance

According to industry estimates, fire protection industry HFC (hydro fluorocarbons) emissions represent around 0.06% of total GHG emissions. This is partly due to the fact that the Halon Alternative Research Corporation (HARC) tracks emissions of HFCs for fire systems and has documented that with significant growth of installed system over that last decade, emissions have still remained flat. This is because fire suppression system clean agents are released into the atmosphere in relatively a few ways, such as system discharge or improper disposal of a system during a construction renovation.

So the point here is to keep in mind that HFCs are still considered safe and environmentally stable with zero ozone depletion. They are not restricted for use in fire suppression applications and also qualify for LEED credits for green building certification. Even more assuring, most HFC manufacturers are now offering 20-year sustainability warranties.

So what’s the big deal? Georges Dyer of Greenland Enterprises recently published a paper on this subject entitled HFCs in Fire Protection Systems (http://www.awarenessintoaction.com/whitepapers/HFC-protection-systems-global-warming.html). He states that “HFCs in fire protection systems may seem like a footnote in the global struggle to avert climate disruption and disaster. But they are an unavoidable footnote – a pollutant that we can eliminate with very little personal sacrifice in our daily lives, and a relatively low cost to industry.”

Agent	GWP	Atmospheric Lifetime/100 years
HFCs (HFC-227ea/FM-200, FE-25/HFC-125/ ECARO, FE-13, FE-36)	124-14,800	30 years
Flouroketones (FK-5-1-12/Novec-1230/Sapphire)	1	5 days
Inert Gases (IG-541 Inergen, IG-55 Argonite)	0	0

Those of you willing to make a small sacrifice for the good of “green” have several options. Typical clean agent alternatives to HFCs are FKs (Flouroketones) and Inert Gases. Below is a summary of clean agents and how each compares with regard to the environmental factors mentioned above.

While, restrictions on using HFCs for fire suppression systems don’t currently exist in the United States and although industry codes stand to reduce emissions by promoting responsible methods for installation, maintenance and disposal of fire suppression systems, I still believe it is inevitable that we will eventually be forced to phase out HFCs with regard to new system installations, just as we were forced to do with the Halon gases. So now the question is – how soon will it be?