A Telecommunications company – a traditional regional operating company, a long-distance provider, a wireless service, or a broadband company offering bundled TV, internet and phone, is providing customers with round-the-clock, uninterrupted service.
A fire in any critical telecom facility, whether a central office, a satellite transmission station, or a cable head-end can knock out vital communication links for thousands of customers at once.
Like data centers, telco facilities rely on sensitive computing equipment, they are often tightly packed, cooling is a concern, cables and network equipment are always live with electricity, and a fire would be catastrophic. Risk is accentuated when buildings are unmanned . Many are located in remote areas..
FIRE PROTECTION
Smoke Detection
· Spot detectors – Passive detection that activates when the smoke reaches the detector.
· Air Sampling Smoke Detection – Active detection that continuously draws air from the room to a high sensitivity detector. Provides very early warning that a fire is starting. Can be used to monitor return air grilles where room air flow is high.
· Heat Detection
Spot detectors – Passive detection that activates if heat in the area around the detector exceeds a predefined threshold.
Suppression – Clean Agent
A control panel releases clean agent into the room and/or under floor when a designated number of detectors activate. Widely used in data centers.
Clean agent is waterless and does no harm to electronic components. Data center can remain operational during a discharge.
Suppression – Sprinkler
Could be a wet system (pipes always full of water) or a pre-action system (pipes remain dry until detection of a fire causes an action that fills them with water).
Often times a requirement of the local Authorized Having Jurisdiction even though water suppression would cause considerable damage to computing equipment.
Suppression – Water Mist
New technology that atomizes water droplets into a non-conductive fog that suppresses fire without water damage. Presently used in data centers in the United States and Europe.
Authorized Having Jurisdictions have begun accepting water mist as an alternative to traditional sprinkler systems.
