Kitchen Fires: When a Naïve Fire Turns Hostile

In commercial kitchens there is a dangerous combination of super-heated flammable liquids and a great deal of chaos. Such a scenario is ample to trigger fire. To avoid the highly likely but an untoward fire situation, commercial kitchens must equip themselves to tackle the fire situations that might arise. ​ Kitchen fires turn violent if water is used on it. Such fires can be arrested with special extinguishing agents that can effectively douse off the kitchen fire without wrecking down the kitchen functionary. Kitchen hood suppression systems are fire suppression systems which are tailored to a specific fire hazard – fires arising from cooking oils. 

In kitchen suppression systems, apart from the extinguishing agent, detection and actuation of the systems plays a major role in kitchen firefighting. Thus, the systems are designed such that they detect real fire scenarios as soon as they arise.

The conventional suppression systems used for quite some time were mechanical systems based on detection & actuation via the fusible links. The conventional kitchen suppression system had two major disadvantages viz: late detection and false detection. Where on one hand, in firefighting every second is crucial, delayed detection has a spiraling effect on fire and on the other hand false alarms during the operation time of any commercial kitchen would prove extremely detrimental in terms of commercials as well as reputation.

A technical advancement over the conventional systems led to deployment of Pneumatic Heat Sensing Tube (HST) for detection of fire & activation of the system. The HST addresses the challenges faced by the traditional systems through the “placement & properties” of the HST.

The Pneumatic HST maintains pressure in the system. In case of a fire instance the HST bursts creating a pressure differential which in-turn actuates the system and quells all types of kitchen fires. The HST runs across the length of the hood, thus ensuring that there are no blind spots in firefighting.  On detecting a fire incidence the HST bursts open ensuring no fire ever goes undetected. The HST runs across the length of hood from behind the filters. This apt placement ensures that there is no false alarm which might disrupt the kitchen functioning.

Ceasefire caters to the challenging demands of the commercial kitchens through its impeccable product line of LPCB approved water-mist and wet chemical based fire suppression systems, which are adept in tackling any type of kitchen fire.