FIRE PREVENTION & FIRE FIGHTING

                                                                     FIRE

·        Fuel +oxygen + heat = fire

·        Fire is exothermic reaction

·        Fire is a process of burning

DEFINITION: - “fire is a chemical reaction initiated by presence of heat energy in which a substance combines with oxygen of the air, the process accomplishes by emission of energy in the form of heat, light and sound.”

# Essentials of fire:

1.      Fuel

2.      Oxygen

3.      Heat source

4.      Process of chain reaction

# Terms related to fire:

1.     FLASH POINT: It is the lowest temperature at which the fuel gives off enough vapors that ignite for a moment when a small flame is brought near to it.

2.     FIRE POINT: It is the lowest temperature at which the vapors of the fuel burn continuously for at least 5 seconds when a tiny flame is brought near to it. In most cases the fire points are 5⁰ C to 40⁰ C higher than the flash points.

3.      FLASH OVER POINT: The point at which the fire changes from two dimensional to three dimensional manifestations. Structural damage begins after the growth of the fire to flash over point.

4.     IGNITION TEMPERATURE: The minimum temperature to which a material must be heated in order to initiate or cause self sustained combustion independent of heating element.

5.     LOWER EXPLOSION OR FLAMMABILITY LIMIT: Minimum concentration of vapor in oxygen below which the propagation of flame will not occur in the presence of an ignition source.

# TYPES OF COMBUSTION:

1.     Rapid- gas is ignited, produces heat and light.

2.     Spontaneous- without the application of any external heat

3.     Explosion- Combustion in confined place under pressure, heat and light is produced (usually with sound)

 

 

 

# CLASSES OF FIRE:

A class - wood, paper, textile, rubbish grass etc.

B class – oils, petroleum products, varnishes, paints, solvent greases.

C class – fires of electrical origin

D class – Burning metal viz. aluminium zinc, magnesium, potassium.

E class – gaseous substances.

 

# METHODS OF EXTINGUISHING A FIRE:

1.     Starving- Removing the fuel.

2.     Smothering- Removing the air. (Wrapping a fire blanket around the person, closing windows and doors, covering the frying pan with a lid)

3.     Cooling- Removing the heat. (turning off the source of heat, using fire extinguishers)

# PRECAUTIONS TO BE TAKEN FOR AVOIDING FIRE OR MINIMISING ITS EFFECTS(from the book photocopy.. page number 427)

# PROCEDURE IN THE EVENT OF FIRE:

1.      The fire brigade must be called immediately

2.      Do not panic

3.      Warn other people in the vicinity, raise the alarm

4.      Do not rush

5.      Follow the fire instructions

6.      Use appropriate extinguisher if small fire is there

7.      Close doors and windows, turn off gas and electricity if safe to do so.

Heat Terms & Heat Transfer

Temperature: Degree of hotness or the level of heat intensity of a body is its’ temperature.

Calorific value of fuel: The total amount of heat liberated when a unit masss or a unit volume of fuel is burnt completely is calorific value of fuel.

Calorie: the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one gm of water through 1°C (15°C to 16°C)

Kilocalorie: The amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 Kg of water through 1°C.

1 Kcal=1000 cal

CHU (Centigrade Heat Unit): The quantity of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 Lb (pound) of water through 1°C.

1 Lb=453.6 gm ie; 1 CHU=453.6 cal

B.T.H.U or B.T.U (British Thermal Unit): The quantity of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 Lb (pound) of water through 1°F.

One scale of temperature can be converted into another scale of temperature by the formula.

C/5= F-32
    9

Latent Heat: The heat which changes the physical state of a substance without changing the temperature.

Specific Heat: The relative amount of heat required to raise the temperature of a unit mass of different substances by 1° compared with the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of the same weight of water by 1°.

METHOD OF HEAT TRANSFER

The important law of thermodynamics is that heat always travels from a warm object to a colder one. The rate of heat travel is in direct proportion to the temperature difference between the two bodies.
Process of moving heat from one source to another is called heat transfer.
Heat can travel in any of three ways: radiation, conduction, or convection.
Conduction: It is the flow of heat through a substance. Actual physical' contact is required for heat transfer to take place between two bodies by this means. Conduction is a highly efficient means of heat transfer as any service-man who has touched a piece of hot metal can testify. Transfer of heat through solid material. Heat is carried through the atomic vibration & electron motion.It is due to the property of matter and heat transfers from one molecule of the body to another molecule without the motion of molecule.
Convection: It is the flow of heat by means of a fluid medium, either gas or liquid, normally air or water. Air may be heated by a furnace, and then discharged into a room to heat objects in the room by convection. Here process of heat transfer from one particle of the fluid to another particle by the accumulation of the heated particles of the fluid. Heat is carried by molecules.
It is due to the capacity of moving matter to carry heat energy. Heat is transferred by heat conduction & mixing motion.

Radiation: Process of heat transfer from one hot body to another cold body in a straight line without affecting intervening medium. Radiation is the property of all substances & each body emits energy and amount of energy emitted depend upon the temperature level.
 It is the transfer of heat by waves similar to light waves or radio waves. For example, the sun's energy is transferred to the Earth by radiation. One need only step from the shade into direct sunlight to feel the impact of the heat waves, even though the temperature of the surrounding air is identical in both places. There is little radiation at low temperatures, and at small temperature differences, so radiation is of little importance in the actual heat transfer process.
.

FUELS USED IN CATERING INDUSTRY

                                       FUELS USED IN CATERING INDUSTRY

FUEL: Any source of heat energy is called fuel.

The material which is burnt to produce heat is known as fuel. For example, wood, coal, domestic gas (LPG), kerosene diesel, and petrol are used as fuels in home, industries and for transport.  When a fuel is burnt, it combines with oxygen in the air to form carbon dioxide and water vapor. A lot of energy (heat and sometimes light) is also produced during this process.

Primary Fuel: - Found in abundance in nature and used in natural form, e.g. coal, wood etc.

Secondary Fuel. - Requires some refining or processing or mixing e.g. petrol, kerosene, disel.etc.

 Other forms of classification are:

1. Solid: coal, wood, peat, lignite, Anthracite, Bituminous                  

2. Liquid: petrol, diesel, kerosene, spirit, coal tar

3. Gaseous:  LPG, CNG, Methane, compressed butane

4. Electricity and

5. Conventional fuel, e.g., solar energy, biomass.

Properties of ideal fuel:

§  Low ignition point and high calorific value

§  Produces minimum amount of smoke

§  Should be easy to store & convenient for transportation and economical

§  Has moderate rate of combustion

§  Has low content of non volatile material

§  Is readily and available in plenty

§  Produces no poisonous products on combustion

Comparison of different fuels

Fuels type	SOLID FUEL	lIQUID FUEL	GASEOUS FUEL	ELECTRICITY
Advantages	1.Low  maintenance  cost 2.Easily available 3.Thickest   type  of   fuel 4.No expert required to take care 5.Easy to transport	1.Flow can be regulated 2. Production of energy is instant 3. Readily available 4. Not as dirty as solid fuel 5. More friendly	1.Easy to handle 2.Saves  a lot of labour 3.Controllable through regulators 4.Very little pollution 5.Instant fuel	1.Easy to operate 2.Fuel is clean 3.No storage required 4.Efficiency is good 5.Eco-friendly
Disadvantages	1.Requires  space 2.Heat cannot be controlled 3.Pollutes the environment 4.Causes health hazard 5.Ignition time is high 6. More labour  required to operate 7.Not eco-friendly	1.Requires space 2.Lot of care to be taken 3.Releases  pollution 4.Sources are not reliable in terms of purity 5.Bad odour	1.Transportaion cost is high because of high volatility 2.Regular check of equipment and supply line required 3.Lot of care by an expert required 4. Very large storage tanks are needed. 5.Highly inflammable	1.Expert required to handle the equipment 2.Chances if short circuit 3.It  is costly 4.Risk of shock 5.Cost of maintenance is high.

Duties and Responsibilities of Chief Engineer

Duties and responsibilities of Chief Engineer in a hotel

·         The chief engineer is responsible for purchase of all machines and equipment, paints, oils, lubricants, grease, other raw materials and tools and instruments.

·         The chief engineer invites tenders and quotations, negotiates, finalize and awards the contract for maintenance and other works.

·         Budget:-  Estimated expenditure on staff salaries and allowance, maintenance contracts, training, purchase of equipment, materials, tools, instrument and furniture.

·         Manpower Planning: -   Estimating required technical manpower coordinating with personnel department to recruit additional manpower required.

·         Training and skill development of staff and employee under him.

·         Drafting, finalizing and implementing maintenance schedule through system of complaint registers and work orders.

·         Processing of bills: - include bills for water, electricity, fuels etc.

·         Coordinating, supervision and inspecting:- Scheduled inspection and surprise inspection.

·         Administrative Assistant handles phenomenal amount of paper work, record keeping, parts ordering, purchase order, inventory, payroll and job assignments and dispatch is an essential full time position. Schedule of work will enable response to issuing departments on a timetable. This position only reports only the director of engineering.

·         Assistant director of engineering must be able to take instant decisions and operate the department effectively.  This position has full authority over the department’s operation and the shift engineers and  technicians / engineers. This position reports to the director of engineering and, in absence of that to the general manager.

·         The shift engineer are normally the ‘runners’ that carry the radio or paper and their primary function is to respond to the day to day maintenance requests generated by the housekeeping department of PBX or those that may be assigned to them.  A direct verbal request by a guest is given first priority. Fire or flood situations is first priority always.

·         The technicians / engineers are those general workers whose skills are utilized by the assistant director of engineering for those jobs outside the of the scope shift engineers, requiring longer time to complete or any more extensive.
           

A. ROLE & IMPORTANCE OF MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT IN THE HOTEL INDUSTRY WITH EMPASIS ON ITS RELATION WITH OTHER DEPARTMENTS OF THE HOTEL

The role and mandate of any hotels' engineering department is the
protection of the building’s/owner’s assets; the structure from the façade or building envelope, to the integrity of the floors, walls, ceilings and all of the furniture, fixtures, and equipment (FF&E) contained therein.

Aside from the base building, office buildings are quite easier to maintain. Generally, offices and shops within commercial buildings are subject to various lease arrangements, with the tenant often being responsible for all maintenance and repairs within their space and proportionate costs of the utilities and taxes . The property operators are usually only responsible for the base building and common areas. The same concept being applied to apartments and condominiums.

Hotels are much more extensive and demanding. The engineering department has the responsibility for everything in the building as well. Depending on the organizational structure of the hotel, some elements are assigned to other departments. The Security or Loss Prevention department may take on the task of fire systems but ultimately this is the responsibility of the engineering department as the building operators to monitor for regulatory compliance.

Hotels have often been given the analogy of a cruise ship or a hospital in that the operation is 24 – 7. Twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week. When the guests are sound asleep the systems of the building continue to operate. The heating and ventilation units are running, the domestic hot water is being heated, the laundry may be operating, the night cleaners making their rounds, desk clerks and night auditors all doing what they have to do. Behind the scenes, there is a flurry of activity, and everything has to work so that everyone can do their jobs and the guests are safe and comfortable.

Without minimizing the contribution of other departments, of which there may be as many as ten or more, the bottom line is if there is no engineering department there is no hotel. Take away those services like hot water or elevators, heating or cooling, electricity, kitchen equipment, laundry equipment etc, you simply would have no customers. When everything is working the next most significant department of course is housekeeping whose efforts keep the property clean and attractive, tending to the guests comfort in their rooms. Removing a restaurant from the system will not close the hotel, or closing the bar or lounge will not cause the hotel to cease operations. Again, all departments should contribute to a seamless operation where the guest comfort and safety and satisfaction are paramount.

The pages following will attempt to shed some light on the various segments of hotel engineering although some aspects are interrelated and not really separable. Hopefully, by narrowing the focus the reader will gain a rudimentary or cursory understanding of the role of the engineering department.

Here are some benefits of Hotel Engineering:

• smooth and continuous operation
• minimum chances of breakdown and accidents
• minimise adverse effects on the workers/employees/guests
• minimize equipment downtime
• increase customer satisfaction
• less overtime to be paid to employees
• reduce large scale repairs
• reduction in number of maintenance jobs waiting list
• better quality service
• lesser number of standbys are needed
• less destruction of equipments
• less losses due to less failures