Construction and Development

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  • 1.  Water storage for fire mitigation

    Posted 10-04-2021 09:00 PM
    Edited by Megan Baker 10-04-2021 09:01 PM
    Fire hydrants aren't an option because the local water system is lacking.  Looks like the Fire Marshall wants us to carry 25,000 gal in a tank for fire mitigation. And this is after we have already put in 3 hour firewalls to bend to his "interpretation" of the IBC.  Anyone have any recommendations for tank manufacturers?  Any other ideas about how to solve the problem from a different angle?

    Thanks all!

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    Megan Baker
    T-5 Investments
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  • 2.  RE: Water storage for fire mitigation

    Posted 10-08-2021 10:49 PM
    25,000 gal tank is huge!  12 wide x 35 tall.   Can you dig a pond?

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    Sam Griffin
    Griffin Place, Inc.
    Waco TX
    (254) 753-7306
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  • 3.  RE: Water storage for fire mitigation

    Posted 10-11-2021 05:13 PM
    Several options here, first have you checked with a civil engineer and an architect to see if they are aware of any way around this requirement? Secondly, what is the amount that the water supply is lacking and are there options for upgrading the service? Have you done flow test to determine the water systems service capacity?
     If you have done all this and you still need to store water onsite, there are a couple of ways of doing so, one is a storage tank, probably the easiest but not necessarily the least expensive. Do you have a detention pond, you may have extra capacity in your detention pond, or you may can create extra capacity, we have in the past designed ponds to hold the water required by the fire marshal in the detention pond, over and above what is required for drainage. Keeping a constant amount of water in the pond by pluming a constant level float and bringing in water from the local system. Plumbing the fire hydrant directly to the pond should it ever be needed. 

    Not sure this helps, just some things we have done in the past.

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    Ted Culbreth
    SBS Construction
    Boerne TX
    (830) 388-7611
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