Page 95 - Industrial Plants

Remote controlled monitors -

a smart and reliable answer

for a safer protection

Nico Zorzetto, Director Export e Marketing Sanco Spa

afety is more than just being careful: it
includes knowing what is unsafe and how
to avoid the careless actions and inactions
that can make an area unsafe.
SPoor safety practices come from a lack of
safety familiarity (need of trainings), while carelessness
results from a disregard for that awareness. Both
conditions can lead to catastrophe.
Yet, in some cases it may not always be possible to
extinguish a fire, and, in such case, the fire should be
controlled, and vulnerable equipment should be kept
cool.
It is usual to provide a range of means for fighting and
controlling fires, and fixed monitors are really useful
tools required to provide cooling water spray or foam identify when to use one agent rather than another. Series of remote
against radiation and/or to divert vapour clouds away For example, water is an extinguishing agent usually controlled monitors
from the source of ignition during fire operations or to always available and it can be operated to cool employed for oil
deliver dry chemical powder for suppressing fires (for surfaces exposed to radiation or affected by fire. T-berth
gas fires). A water curtain can be useful to limit the thermal effect
of radiation and, in some circumstances, it may be
The adaptability of this kind of system is really used also to extinguish a jet of burning gas. Water
noteworthy. monitors are usually used to cool exposed items, such
In fact, SANCO monitors can be used for the protection as equipment and gangways for escape. A water
of many fire risks, such as stream can also be used to cool metal supports and
• jetty and harbours deck surfaces during a fire, to prevent weakening and
• docks buckling of structures. In the jetty situation, cooling has
• oil fuel and chemical storage tanks to be provided for the monitor poles/structures and the
• chemical plants gangways between the ship and shore is important for
• oil refinery processing areas escape.
• LNG cargos, jetty areas On the other hand foam extinguishing agent suppresses
• dyke areas (oil, fuel, chemical storage tanks) fire by separating the flames from the fuel surface,
• aircraft hangars retarding vapour release and cooling the surroundings,
• helicopter loading paths by excluding oxygen from the flammable vapours,
• offshore helidecks and platforms reducing the rate of gas vapours cloud and,
subsequently, flash fire or vapour cloud explosion.
In particular, when dealing with hydrocarbon products
Fire risks and extinguishing or flammable liquids, foam can be the most appropriate

agents solution.
Several foam concentrates have been developed over
There are different types of extinguishing agents the years, each with particular features.
according to each risk to protect, so it is essential to On the market there are several foam concentrates that

IndustrIal Plants - May 2017
93