(67a) Evaluating and Protecting Liquids That Burn: Understanding the Hazards and Paths to Providing Protection

Liquids that burn present unique fire challenges for use and storage occupancies. A clear understanding of the fire hazard created by these liquids is needed to make sure possible fire solutions will meet the need. NFPA 30 provides excellent guidance on how to protect occupancies that use or store liquids that burn. However, the application of the code is not easy, and its enforcement is far from consistent. There is an effort underway to attempt to simplify the code by aligning the liquid classification to the hazard instead of holding to terminology that has multiple definitions. If hazard is used as the driving element in setting the requirements, there is an opportunity to begin simplifying the code and hopefully achieve greater enforcement. It is important to remember that change takes time and education. Keeping a direct link to old classification systems is important so users can see what has changed and better understand the value of change.

This talk will present an overview of the fire hazard created by liquids that burn in storage occupancies, review the naming conventions for those liquids, discuss what is important when evaluating liquids, review how NFPA 30 provides a path to protecting liquid storage and the proposed changes to the code to improve its usability and application.