The Needles Lighthouse

The Needles Lighthouse is found on the outermost part of the Isle of Wight in Britain. As a heritage building it was constructed from granite in 1859 and stands proud at 33.25 metres (109 ft.) above sea water. Even with modern GPS technology, its light still guides vessels in one of the most treacherous stretches of water around the British Isles. This case study is brought courtesy of trained installer Allfire Ltd.

Why FirePro®?
FirePro® pre-engineered fire suppression system was chosen as the most environmentally friendly, logistically advantageous with a cost saving of circa 30% over an HFC-227e system replacement. The system was proven as compact, modular which minimised weight and footprint requirements during both transportation and installation. FirePro® remains as a solid until electrically charged to change state and release as a fine particulate to extinguish fire which poses no threat to human health, especially for personnel working on an off-shore site.

Risks Involved & Consequences
Lighthouses are mission critical for the thousands of ships and the lives and assets on them passing close to rocks every year. Failure to protect the lighthouse diesel generators in case of a fire could result in a catastrophic chain of events.

Results of Implementation
FirePro® system generators were transported by road and boat to be installed by Allfire's trained fire system engineers. Allfire's design team configured the system to produce a system specification in collaboration wit the clients operational requirements and the respective codes of practice, all controlled by the FirePro® Kentec Sigma XT control and indicator unit.

"Allfire Ltd have been an advocate of the FirePro products for sometime now. Our client was very impressed with the safety advantages and speed of installation that we could offer, and I am pleased with the outcome. We will continue to promote FirePro UK's products where they fit our client needs"

Tom Simmonds

Allfire Ltd

Client

Allfire Ltd

Project

Diesel Generator Room - HFC227ea System Retrofit This remote offshore lighthouse contained an obsolete HFC227ea pressurised cylinder based fire suppression system protecting the standby diesel generator. The client required a full re-appraisal and upgrade of the fire detection and fire suppression system. Crucially, the key factors for the replacement system were performance, efficiency, low maintenance, logistics ease, fixed life span.

Challenges

Materials logistics. Ease of installation. Space usage. Emergency replenishment. All of the fire system materials were hand carried and transported by boat. FirePro® is not a pressurised gas and is designed to be wall or ceiling mounted, thus saving premium floor space. Reserve FirePro® fire suppression generators may be left on site, thus alleviating any external supply dependency to enable virtually immediate replacement following system discharge.