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August 20, 2024
Correctional facilities, such as jails and prisons, often require distinctive smoke control systems to ensure the safety of occupants while preventing the spread of smoke in a highly compartmentalized environment. In this guide, we look at key aspects of designing and maintaining these systems.
The Lancaster Jail Fire of 1979 occurred on December 27th in Lancaster, South Carolina, resulting in the tragic deaths of eleven inmates and injuring firefighters. The fire started, and was confined, to a single cell. However, this single-cell fire produced heavy smoke and heat that hindered rescue efforts and spread throughout the small jail.
The investigation highlighted critical safety deficiencies, such as a lack of fire detection and suppression systems, inadequate inmate release mechanisms, and poor supervision. The fire underscored the need for improved fire safety measures in correctional facilities and other occupancies where people expect to be safe.
Today’s smoke control systems in correctional facilities are designed to address the lessons learned from such tragedies. They focus on effectively containing smoke, providing clear evacuation routes, and ensuring the safety of both occupants and staff.
Read on to learn everything you need to know about smoke control systems in correctional facilities. If there is a specific section you are interested in, feel free to jump to it now.
What’s Unique About Correctional Facilities in Relation to Smoke Control?
Actionable Smoke Control Strategies for Correctional Facilities
Why Are Smoke Control Systems Important for Correctional Facilities?
What’s an Example of a Smoke Control System for Correctional Facilities?
How Do You Design a New Smoke Control System for a Correctional Facility?
What Are the Design Considerations for a Smoke Control System?
How Do You Maintain & Test a Correctional Facility’s Fire Protection Systems?
Correctional facilities present special challenges for smoke control because of the following factors:
Correctional facility occupants typically have limited freedom of movement within the building. During an emergency like a fire, their movement may be further restricted, requiring specialized strategies for evacuation and smoke control, including remote and delayed release from holding cells in the event of an emergency.
Correctional facilities often house a large number of individuals in a relatively confined space. This high occupancy density poses challenges in terms of ensuring effective smoke control measures that can protect everyone within the facility.
The security protocols and physical barriers in correctional facilities can complicate evacuation procedures and smoke control strategies. Balancing safety with security considerations is crucial in these environments.
Correctional facilities may have limited staff available during emergencies. This can impact the speed and efficiency of evacuation procedures and the implementation of smoke control measures.
The layout and design of correctional facilities, including cell blocks, common areas and secure perimeters, can influence how smoke spreads and how occupants can be safely evacuated. These facilities are typically constructed as windowless buildings, which triggers a requirement for an engineered smoke control system.
Unlike other types of buildings, correctional facilities may have individuals who pose a risk to others during emergencies. Managing such situations while ensuring effective smoke control adds complexity to emergency response plans.
Due to the nature of correctional facilities and the need for controlled movement, evacuation times may be longer compared to other building types. This requires careful consideration in smoke control planning to ensure occupants' safety.
To ensure the safety of occupants and staff during fire emergencies, you need to have smoke control strategies in place. Here are effective approaches to consider:
Extensive security measures ensure safety during fire emergencies in correctional facilities. Occupants rely on trained staff and established procedures to assist with evacuations and safely relocate them away from danger zones.
Correctional facilities are divided into smoke compartments to prevent smoke from spreading throughout the building during a fire. Smoke-resistant construction and doors help contain the smoke and keep non-affected areas safe.
Ensure everyone in your facility understands where they need to go in the event of a fire. Occupants not directly affected by a fire scenario will often stay in their compartments. Those in the affected area may move to adjacent compartments or evacuate the building under staff direction.
When modeling evacuation scenarios in correctional facilities, several critical factors come into play. Pre-movement times are a key consideration, accounting for the time it takes for occupants to become aware of the emergency, process the information and then initiate evacuation actions. This includes elements such as the distance occupants need to cover, any obstacles in their path and their physical capabilities. In addition, jails and other inmate holding areas (such as within courthouses), require manual release from constantly attended positions; these releasing protocols often can lead to delays in premovement time.
Staff coordination is another crucial aspect. During emergencies, staff members are vital in guiding occupants, unlocking doors and ensuring a smooth and orderly evacuation process. Effective coordination among staff members is essential to minimize confusion and delays during evacuations.
Finally, data from past fire drills provides valuable insights into the actual time it takes for occupants to evacuate the building or move to designated safe areas within the facility. This data helps refine the evacuation models, making them more accurate and reflective of real-world scenarios.
Building materials must be noncombustible, and combustible fuel load inside must be limited. Noncombustible materials such as concrete and steel are commonly used for enhanced safety.
Smoke control systems provide several benefits for correctional facilities. These buildings typically have limited options for occupants to relocate or evacuate during emergencies, making effective smoke control measures crucial for ensuring their safety.
Additionally, many correctional facilities are designed as windowless structures, meaning they have no windows, or nonoperable windows that are not easily breakable by occupants or firefighters, which complicates ventilation and necessitates specialized smoke control systems. Smoke remains a significant hazard even after a fire is extinguished, highlighting the importance of prompt and efficient smoke extraction to maintain air quality and visibility within the facility.
In addition, smoke control systems enable the safe relocation of occupants within the building or evacuation outside during emergencies, minimizing potential injuries and saving lives. These systems also contribute to containing the spread of fire and smoke within the facility by limiting smoke movement between compartments. This containment is critical for preventing the escalation of fires and ensuring the protection of occupants subjected to a defend-in-place strategy.
Mechanical smoke control systems are commonly used in correctional facilities because they offer reliable and efficient methods for containing smoke, maintaining air quality and facilitating safe evacuation procedures during fire emergencies. These systems are designed to work with the building's ventilation and fire suppression systems for comprehensive smoke management.
One of the primary components of mechanical smoke control systems is exhaust fans, which are strategically placed to swiftly remove smoke and contaminants from the facility. Exhaust fans may be dedicated to smoke control or may work in tandem with the HVAC system to ensure efficient air circulation and replace smoke-laden air with fresh makeup air.
Additionally, smoke dampers complement the HVAC system within the smoke control framework. These dampers are integrated into the HVAC system's ductwork and are designed to close automatically in response to smoke detection or fire alarm signals. By closing off specific duct sections, smoke dampers effectively block the movement of smoke through the ventilation system, thus maintaining compartmentalization within the building. This compartmentalization is crucial as it helps contain the spread of smoke and fire to localized areas.
Designing a smoke control system for a correctional facility involves several critical steps:
First, it’s essential to work with all of the project stakeholders—the owners, design team and authorities having jurisdiction (AHJ)—so you can understand the procedures in place for fire emergencies. These procedures can include plans for relocation, defending in place and evacuation. Gathering data from past fire drills or real fire events is crucial to estimate how long it typically takes to relocate occupants. Understanding the facility's security levels, as different prisons and detention centers have varying degrees of security, is also necessary. This initial phase includes gathering information on the limitations regarding combustible materials, such as non-combustible furniture in common areas and construction materials, which influence potential fuel loads.
The next step involves creating a design brief. This document consolidates the gathered information and outlines the overall approach for the smoke control system. The design brief is shared with stakeholders to ensure everyone agrees on the proposed strategies. This brief includes identifying potential fire scenarios, examining fuel loads, heat release rates and documenting assumptions and initial findings from stakeholder meetings. The feedback from stakeholders helps refine the plan, ensuring all perspectives and potential scenarios are considered.
Following the design brief, the full fire and egress modeling analysis stage begins. Coordination with the mechanical engineer, architect and design team is essential to determine the required exhaust airflow and makeup air supply, which is typically quantified in cubic feet per minute (CFM). Identifying suitable locations for exhaust points and makeup air supply within the facility is crucial.
This stage involves computational fluid dynamics (CFD) fire modeling and Pathfinder egress modeling to simulate fire scenarios and occupant movements for the design of exhaust systems. Multiple iterations of the model may be necessary to ensure the system maintains tenability and keeps smoke layers above egress paths.
Alternatively, CONTAM modeling can be performed to evaluate pressurization methods. This ensures that adjacent smoke compartments have higher pressure to restrict smoke movement. Throughout the process, continuous coordination with the design team ensures the system is constructible and meets the expectations of all stakeholders, including the architect and mechanical engineer.
The final step involves preparing the smoke control rational analysis report, which documents the full design approach, including airflow requirements and results from the modeling. This report is a key deliverable for the project and ensures that the system meets all design criteria as well as provides guidance to the design team.
Once the system design is complete, it must be inspected by a special inspector, as mandated by building codes and NFPA 92. The inspector verifies that the system is installed correctly, meets documented airflow requirements, and maintains appropriate pressure differentials, ensuring the system functions as intended during an emergency.
When designing a smoke control system for a correctional facility, there are several key considerations to ensure both safety and functionality. One important factor is the need for customized designs for different areas within the facility, such as cell blocks, common areas and administrative spaces. Each area has unique requirements and challenges that must be addressed.
Security of smoke detectors is a major issue, as equipment can be tampered with by occupants. Instead of using traditional smoke detectors, which can be easily damaged, consider air-aspirating smoke detection systems, which may be more effective and less prone to tampering.
Additionally, it’s crucial to minimize false alarms. In a correctional facility, false alarms can lead to unnecessary evacuations, which can be particularly disruptive and potentially dangerous. Therefore, smoke detection systems and fire alarms should be strategically placed to reduce the likelihood of false alarms. For instance, detectors can be installed in HVAC return air ducts between cell blocks, where they are less accessible to occupants but still effective in detecting smoke.
Zoning the fire sprinkler systems is another important consideration. Sprinklers must be designed to prevent occupants from causing damage that could lead to unwanted water flow and potential water damage, in addition to the alarm triggered by such incidents. Institutional-grade sprinklers that are less prone to tampering should be installed.
Regular inspections, testing and maintenance are essential for the effectiveness of your correctional facility’s fire protection systems, including sprinkler systems, smoke detection systems and fire alarm systems, during a fire emergency. The sprinkler system maintenance and testing are governed by NFPA 25, while NFPA 72 covers the fire alarm system's maintenance and testing requirements. Requirements for maintenance and testing of smoke control systems are provided in NFPA 92.
The special inspection of the smoke control system adds an additional layer of oversight. This inspection ensures all fire protection systems integrate correctly and function as a cohesive unit. While individual technicians maintain and test their respective systems—sprinkler technicians for sprinklers and fire alarm technicians for alarms—the special inspector is responsible for ensuring the entire smoke control system operates effectively as an integrated whole. This approach helps to ensure the safety and reliability of the facility's fire protection systems. Regular testing of the smoke control system occurs every six to twelve months, depending on whether the system is dedicated or non-dedicated.
Managing smoke control systems in correctional facilities is a multifaceted task that requires careful planning, coordination and maintenance. By understanding the unique aspects of correctional facilities, you can develop a smoke control system that minimizes the potential for smoke-related injuries or damage, ensuring a secure and controlled environment even during challenging fire scenarios.
Protect your correctional facility with expert smoke control services from Performance Based Fire. Our team of licensed fire protection engineers knows what it takes to keep your facility safe in the event of a fire. Contact us to start the conversation.
