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FIRE PROTECTION SYSTEMS
2. Smoke and heat removal shall not be required in where:
areas of buildings equipped with early suppression
fast response(ESFR) sprinklers. AVR = The required aggregate vent area(ft2).
3. Smoke and heat removal shall not be required in V = Volume (ft2) of the area that requires smoke
removal.
areas of buildings equipped with control mode spe-
cial application sprinklers with a response time For unsprinklered buildings:
index of 50(m•5)1/2 or less that are listed to control A VR /50
a fire in stored commodities with 12 or fewer sprin-
klers. where:
910.2.1 Group F-1 or S-1.Smoke and heat vents installed AVR = The required aggregate vent area(ft2).
in accordance with Section 910.3 or a mechanical smoke AFa = The area of the floor in the area that requires
removal system installed in accordance with Section 910.4 smoke removal.
shall be installed in buildings and portions thereof used as 910.4 Mechanical smoke removal systems. Mechanical
a Group F-1 or S-12 occupancy having more than 50,000 smoke removal systems shall be designed and installed in
square feet (4645 m2) of undivided area. In occupied por- accordance with Sections 910.4.1 through 910.4.7.
tions of a building equipped throughout with an automatic
sprinkler system in accordance with Section 903.3.1.1, 910.4.1 Automatic sprinklers required. The building
where the upper surface of the story is not a roof assembly, shall be equipped throughout with an approved automatic
a mechanical smoke removal system in accordance with sprinkler system in accordance with Section 903.3.1.1.
Section 910.4 shall be installed. 910.4.2 Exhaust fan construction. Exhaust fans that are
Exception: Group S-1 aircraft repair hangars. part of a mechanical smoke removal system shall be rated
910.2.2 High-piled combustible storage.Smoke and heat for operation at 221°F (105°C). Exhaust fan motors shall
removal required by Table 3206.2 for buildings and por be located outside of the exhaust fan air stream.
tions thereof containing high-piled combustible storage 910.4.3 System design criteria. The mechanical smoke
shall be installed in accordance with Section 910.3 in removal system shall be sized to exhaust the building at a
unsprinklered buildings. In buildings and portions thereof minimum rate of two air changes per hour based upon the
containing high-piled combustible storage equipped volume of the building or portion thereof without contents.
throughout with an automatic sprinkler system in accor- The capacity of each exhaust fan shall not exceed 30,000 '
dance with Section 903.3.1.1, a smoke and heat removal cubic feet per minute(14.2 m3/sec).
t' system shall be installed in accordance with Section 910.3 910.4.3.1 Makeup air. Makeup air openings shall be
or 910.4. In occupied portions of a building equipped provided within 6 feet (1829 mm) of the floor level.
throughout with an automatic sprinkler system in accor- Operation of makeup air openings shall be manual or
dance with Section 903.3.1.1 where the upper surface of automatic. The minimum gross area of makeup air
the story is not a roof assembly, a mechanical smoke inlets shall be 8 square feet per 1,000 cubic feet per
removal system in accordance with Section 910.4 shall be minute(0.74 m2 per 0.4719 m3/s)of smoke exhaust.
installed.
910.4.4 Activation. The mechanical smoke removal sys-
910.3 Smoke and heat vents. The design and installation of tern shall be activated by manual controls only.
II smoke and heat vents shall be in accordance with Sections 910.4.5 Manual control location. Manual controls shall
910.3.1 through 910.3.3. be located so as to be accessible to the fire service from an
910.3.1 Listing and labeling. Smoke and heat vents shall exterior door of the building and protected against interior
be listed and labeled to indicate compliance with UL 793 fire exposure by not less than 1-hour fire barriers con-
mei or FM 4430. structed in accordance with Section 707 of the Interna-
910.3.2 Smoke and heat vent locations. Smoke and heat tional Building Code or horizontal assemblies constructed
vents shall be located 20 feet (6096 mm) or more from in accordance with Section 711 of the International Build
adjacent lot lines and fire walls and 10 feet (3048 mm) or ing Code,or both.
in
more from fire barriers. Vents shall be uniformly located 910.4.6 Control wiring.Wiring for operation and control
within the roof in the areas of the building where the vents of mechanical smoke removal systems shall be connected
are required to be installed by Section 910.2, with consid- ahead of the main disconnect in accordance with Section
eration given to roof pitch, sprinkler location and struc- 701.12E of NFPA 70 and be protected against interior fire
tural members. exposure to temperatures in excess of 1,000°F(538°C)for
910.3.3 Smoke and heat vents area.The required aggre- period of not less than 15 minutes.
gate area of smoke and heat vents shall be calculated as 910.4.7 Controls. Where building air-handling and
follows: mechanical smoke removal systems are combined or
where independent building air-handling systems are pro- 1
For buildings equipped throughout with an automatic vided, fans shall automatically shut down in accordance
sprinkler system in accordance with Section 903.3.1.1: with the International Mechanical Code.The manual con-
AVR= V/9000 (Equation 9-4) troll provided for the smoke removal system shall have the
140 2015 INTERNATIONAL FIRE CODE®
all! Premier Fire Consulting, LL v ! ., •, •- h.. ri
13337 South St., Suite 151, Cerritos, CA 90703 • Tel. 562. 865. 5134 • Fax. '5-627865. 2004
SEP 23 2015
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Premier Fire Consulting, LLC
13337 South St., Suite 151, Cerritos, CA 90703 • Tel. 562. 865. 5134 • Fax. 562. 865. 2004
August 26,2015 Q 12Jr,J / , 15
City of Tigard \O
13125 SW Hall Blvd.
Tigard, OR 97223
Subject: Request for Alternate Means & Methods to Accept 2015 IFC for Smoke and
Heat Vent Requirements for UPS Supply Chain Solutions located at 14160 SW
72nd Ave., Suite 150,Tigard, OR 97224
Attention: Plan Check
Dear Plan Check,
UPS Supply Chain Solutions currently occupies the building at the above-mentioned address,
with plans to expand into Suite 150 in the near future. The building is a type III-B construction,
and is fully sprinklered with a design-density sprinkler system designed to provide .495 gallons
over the most remote 2,000 square feet of building area with 286 degree heads. The fire
sprinkler system will be upgraded to provide .60 gallons per minute over the most remote 2,000
square feet of building area with 286 degree heads. The warehouse(Suite 150)is approximately
11,838 square feet.
There will be approximately 7,220 square feet of high-piled rack storage in the warehouse.The
products to be stored are semi-conductor production equipment,mainframes,network switches,
routers,hard drives,computers,and the spare parts to repair them.These products are classified
as cartoned unexpanded plastics, a high hazard commodity. The top of storage height in this
warehouse will not exceed 20'-0". The warehouse currently has no skylights or smoke vents
installed,but will need some smoke vents installed to meet high piled storage requirements.Per
Table 910.3 of the 2014 Oregon Fire Code, a 1:50 vent to floor ratio is required for high piled
storage of high-hazard commodities 20'-0" or less in height. To meet this requirement would
necessitate the installation of 8 new smoke vents in this warehouse,creating a financial hardship
for the current tenant/owner.
The purpose of this letter is to request an alternate means and methods approach for the
acceptance of the recently released 2015 edition of the International Fire Code, on which the
Oregon Fire Code is based. This most recent edition of the code makes significant changes to
the way heat and smoke venting requirements are calculated. In the current code, the number
of heat and smoke vents required is based upon the commodity classification and the overall
storage height. The new code, specifically section 910.3.3, simply bases the number of smoke
vents required on the cubic volume of the warehouse.The formula used is: AvR=V/9000,where
AVR=the required aggregate vent area(sq.ft.); and V=volume(cu.ft.)of the area that requires
smoke removal. Utilizing this formula for UPS would mean dividing the cubic volume of the
warehouse, 312,724(11,838(the area of hps)x 26.417(the height of the warehouse))by 9000,
which results in 34.75 square feet of smoke venting required. Divide this number by 32 (the
area of 1 smoke vent), and we end up with 1.09 smoke vents required for this warehouse.
Therefore, 2 new smoke vents will be installed over the high piled storage area to meet the
requirements set forth by section 910.3.3 of the 2015 International Fire Code.
We are requesting that the City of Tigard will accept the 2015 IFC in regards to smoke venting
for UPS, which would allow them to do business in your jurisdiction. We appreciate your time
and understanding in this matter and look forward to a favorable resolution that is agreeable to
all concerned parties in this matter.
If you should have any questions regarding this matter, please feel free to call me at
562-292-4134.
Sincerely,
Kevin Gray