There can be multiple threats throughout the operation of the data center. Among that the most dangerous thing to be considered is FIRE. Have you ever thought of having a fire in your data center and the effect of this? The effects of a fire in real life are more drastic than what is shown on TV and in movies. Fire in the data center is one of the most damaging circumstances imaginable and can wreak havoc on companies’ wallets and reputations. Though fire is highly preventable, data center blazes have been known to completely destroy server rooms or entire facilities. Hence it’s really necessary that each one of us who works in a data center knows about fire prevention, detection and suppression systems which will help us to avoid and face any challenges. At the completion of this article, you will be one step closer to understanding industry safeguarding methods that are used to protect data centers hottest commodity, information. Before going further, I would strongly recommend you to go through my article which describes the basics of fire protection in the data center.

So what are fire prevention and protection systems in the data center?

The main goal of a data center fire protection system is to contain a fire without threatening the lives of the personnel and to minimize downtime. With this in mind, if a fire were to break out there are three system objectives that must be met. The first objective is to detect the presence of a fire. The second objective is to communicate the threat to both the authorities and occupants. Finally, the last objective is to suppress the fire and limit any damage. Being familiar with common technologies associated with fire detection, communication, and suppression allows IT managers, to better specify a fire protection strategy for their data center. Prior to the selection of a detection, communication or suppression system, a design engineer must assess the potential hazards and issues associated with the given data center.

WHY DO DATA CENTER FIRES OCCUR

Let us look into some of the key factors that can cause a fire in the data center. Data Center environment is a highly sensitive habitat, and minute changes can affect equipment. The ignition source varies from time to time when you are looking into most of the incidents.

There are 4 major reasons why there is a high risk of fire in a data center:

• Heavy power load – Heavy power loads or a defective piece of equipment can very quickly lead to a short circuit or overheating
• Electrical fire risk – Constant ignition source electricity and combustible materials, such as plastics, in printed circuit boards
• Infrastructure – Extensive cabling, particularly below raised floors
• Ventilation – Comprehensive air cooling, resulting in higher air exchange, increases the risk of spreading the fire

About 10% of the time it is in the IT equipment, but manufacturers have made great strides in making equipment more resistive to causing fires. A little more than a third of the time the ignition source is the power distribution equipment—either inside the IT room or outside in power or battery room. Uninterruptable power supplies are a frequent source of small fires and smoke events. The remaining causes are less common and can include foreign objects in the data center, human error, or even arson.

Static electricity, in particular, is a tricky thing. When the air in a computing environment is too dry, it can cause static, which can start fires. Those blazes may be fed by the mountains of dust surrounding the servers – not a recipe for success.

Equipment failures are also the culprit of server room fires, as well. Surge suppressors can fail dramatically and cause fires within the containers themselves. Overheated systems can catch on fire, like the September 2014 blaze that occurred in a data room in Des Moines, when a malfunctioning coil in an air conditioning system became too hot, according to Fireline.

Adding some of the real-world incidents too,

1. February 18^th, 2014- This is the first example of data center fires highlighted by Onward and Upward. In this case, a failed transient-voltage surge suppressor located in the basement of the Hoover State Office Building caused damage and smoke. While the TVSS was unused at the time, it was still fully powered. When the TVSS failed, an employee was able to activate a release station manually, which then activated about 2,400 pounds of “FM-200 clean fire-suppressing agent” to be discharged on the basement level along with the floor above the data center. Once this was triggered, the power to equipment was shut off by an emergency circuit. Due to the fire sprinkler and alarm system installed within the center, the fire was extinguished by the time local fire authorities arrived on the scene.
2. March 19^th, 2014- In the case of an Iowa data center fire, a capacitor failed within a cabinet of a UPS (uninterruptible power supply). This failure caused smoke to pour into the enclosed area. A fire suppression system was in place at the time of the fire, which then released close to 385 pounds of the clean agent. Upon the arrival of local fire authorities, the fire had been extinguished, leaving the building unharmed. However, it took nearly two days to locate the malfunctioned portion within the larger unit.
3. September 18^th, 2014- Within a data room in Des Moines, a malfunctioning coil to an air conditioning system became overheated, causing a fire that was fed by paper filaments and dust surrounding the coil. Two separate smoke detecting systems sensed the fire, releasing nearly 275 pounds of the clean agent to extinguish the flame.

It’s clear that it’s not uncommon for fires to occur in data centers. Each of these incidents could have easily gotten out-of-hand and escalated into major disruptions for these facilities. As a summary of why do data center fire occurs we can say that the reasons are multiple. The only way to prevent and avoid loss is to maintain the entire infrastructure effectively.

FIRE DETECTION AND SUPPRESSION SYSTEMS

When a fire occurs, data centers use several methodologies to extinguish the fire. An effective fire suppression plan for the data center should be at the top of any facility manager’s priority list In the event of such a calamity. Data center fire suppression is more than a few sprinkler heads and a cool sounding alarm Rather it is about risk, budget, and a little common sense coming together to meet business continuity outcomes The most effective way of avoiding injury and damage by fire is the prevention of the fire

• The first and most important goal is life safety, which is to prevent injury and loss of life Human life and health always take top priority in an emergency.
• The second goal of fire prevention is to prevent property damage Though second to life safety, property damage should always be considered.
• The final goal of fire prevention is the protection of operations By preventing fires and limiting damage, we can assure work operations will continue without interruption.

Data centers feature fire protection systems, including passive and active design elements, as well as the implementation of fire prevention programs in operations. Smoke detectors are usually installed to provide early warning of a fire at its incipient stage This allows investigation, interruption of power, and manual fire suppression using handheld fire extinguishers before the fire grows to a large size.

The components of a data center friendly suppression system include,

• A detection system that discovers actual fires, and not a leak in your cooling system (refrigerant caused false alarm)
• An alarm that includes both a loud noise and flashing lights (a regulatory requirement in most jurisdictions)
• Portable fire extinguishers placed in critical locations
• Emergency Power Off (EPO switch)
• Halon alternative clean agent
• Emergency suppression system delay or cancel (for false alarms)
• Control system/Fire Alarm Control Panel (FACP)
• A suppression agent (Sprinkler, Gaseous, Foam Spray Systems)that doesn’t destroy your equipment, and doesn’t take so long to clean up that you pass your maximum tolerable downtime threshold.

When we say the word fire detection and suppression systems, it naturally gives us two ideas which are fire detection and suppression where both will be used in congestion to prevent and protect us from these incidents. Let us have a look into each of this category in detail,

FIRE DETECTION

1. Fire Detection Devices

The function of fire detection is to detect a fire in its early stages, notify the building occupants that there is a fire emergency and report the emergency to first responders. Hence these devices are also known as Alarm initiating devices. The alarm initiating device is what actually informs the fire alarm system that there is some sort of danger or fire emergency. These devices can be manual, where someone has to notify the system themselves via a pull or glass station, but they can also be automatic by utilizing heat detectors, smoke detectors, flame detectors, photoelectric/ionization detectors, or in-duct detectors. Most commercial fire alarm systems include a variety of initiating devices spaced throughout the building with a combination of manual and automatic devices.

There are three main types of fire detection devices, they are: 

1. Smoke detectors 
2. Heat detectors 
3. Flame detectors 

For the purposes of protecting a data center, smoke detectors are the most effective. Heat detectors and flame detectors are not recommended for use in data centers, as they do not provide detection in the incipient stages of a fire and therefore do not provide early warning for the protection of high value assets. For this reason, we will be focusing on the attributes and impact of smoke detectors. 

Spot Smoke Detection – Smoke detectors are far more effective forms of protection in data centers simply because they are able to detect a fire at the incipient stage. These are passive detection that activates when the smoke is detected in a particular area. These systems use devices that respond to the smoke particles produced by a fire. They operate on the ionization, photoelectric, cloud chamber, or other smoke particle analysis principle of operation. Spot-type smoke detectors use either the ionization principle of operation or the photoelectric principle. Some are designed for installation in ventilation ducts. (See NFPA 72, National Fire Alarm Code.) Properly installed, smoke detectors can detect smoke particles in very early stages of fire in the areas where they are located. The selection of a particular detector or mixture of detectors should be made by a fire protection specialist and based on building and fire-load conditions.

Another type of widely used smoke detection is by using Intelligent Spot Type Detectors. Intelligent spot type smoke detectors are much more sensitive than a conventional smoke detector. Intelligent spot type smoke detectors utilize a laser beam that scans particles that pass through the detector. The laser beam is able to distinguish whether or not the particles are simply dust or actually a by-product of combustion such as smoke. Furthermore, intelligent spot type smoke detectors are individually addressable. This means that it has the ability to send information to a central control station and pinpoint the exact location of the alarm. Another feature of intelligent spot type smoke detectors is that the sensitivity of the detector can be increased or decreased during certain times of the day. For example, when workers leave an area, the sensitivity can be increased. The intelligent spot type smoke detectors can also compensate for a changing environment due to environmental factors such as humidity or dirt accumulation. One of the active examples of intelligent spot type detectors are ‘Optical beam smoke detectors‘.

Smoke detectors are most commonly placed in the following areas,

• Above drop down ceilings
• On ceilings
• Below raised floors
• In air handling ducts to detect possible fires within an HVAC system. By placing detectors near the exhaust intake of the computer room air conditioners, detection can be accelerated. 

Air Sampling Smoke Detection or Aspirating – Aspirating or Air sampling systems continuously samples air providing the earliest possible warning of an impending fire hazard. Aspirating smoke detectors provide the critical time needed to investigate an alarm condition. An Air Sampling Detector consists of a piping or tubing distribution network that runs from the detector to the area(s) to be protected. An aspiration fan in the detector housing draws air from the protected area back to the detector through air sampling ports, piping, or tubing. At the detector, the air is analyzed for fire products. Air Sampling Smoke Detectors are capable of detecting a fire at its earliest stage. Traditional “spot-type” detectors passively detect smoke or heat in their immediate area. Air sampling smoke detectors actively pull room air through a piping network to its detection chamber where it can detect the presence of particles that are created in the very early stages of combustion, even before smoke is visible.

This is One of the most adopted solutions which are working based on this principle is the Very Early Smoke Detection Apparatus (VESDA). If you would like to understand more about this, please read through the article by ORR Protection.

Spot Heat Detection – Spot heat detection systems are passive detection that activates if the heat in the area around the detector exceeds a predefined threshold(heat). Heat-responsive devices are either a Spot type or a Linear Heat Detection type. Spot Heat Detectors are mounted on exposed ceiling surfaces or on a sidewall near the ceiling. Some devices incorporate both fixed temperature and rate-of-rise detection principles. Spot-type detectors are usually small devices a few inches in diameter. Linear Heat Detection systems are relatively low cost. They cannot detect small, smoldering fires. Line-type detectors can be installed in a relatively inconspicuous manner by taking advantage of ceiling designs and patterns. (See NFPA 72, National Fire Alarm Code.) The air temperature surrounding a fixed temperature device at the time it operates usually is considerably higher than the rated temperature because it takes time for the air to raise the temperature of the operating element to its set point. This is called thermal lag. When considering a data center environment the only consideration will be for Spot Heat Detectors.

Spot Heat Detection

For the purposes of protecting a data center, smoke detectors are the most effective. Heat detectors and flame detectors are not recommended for use in data centers(even though still used), as they not provide detection in the incipient stages of a fire and therefore do not provide early warning for the protection of high-value assets.

2. Fire Alarm Control Panel (FACP) 

The fire alarm control panel is essentially the control center and the brain of a fire alarm system. The FACP monitors and manages the initiating devices and relays the signal to the fire alarm devices if an issue is detected. Each control panel also provides a display that informs you of the system’s current status, as well as troubleshoot codes and a touchpad to manage the system directly where you’re able to disable alarms, signal alerts, reset the system following an issue, and reprogram the system if necessary. The computer programs used by control systems allow users to program and manage the system based on their individual requirements. The system can be programmed with certain features such as time delays, thresholds, and passwords. Once the detector, pull station or sensor activates the control system, the system has the ability to set its preprogrammed list of rules into motion. Most importantly, the control system can provide valuable information to the authorities. 

3. Primary and Backup Power Supply

A fire alarm system also provides you with access to two power supplies. The primary power supply is used constantly, and the backup power supply is used in the event of a power failure. The backup power supply typically consists of 6V or 12V batteries linked to a 24VDC power-limited system and are often located in the control panel or a separate enclosure adjacent to the control panel.

4. Alarm Notification Devices

All of the previously mentioned detection devices would be virtually useless if they were not directly tied into an effective signaling and notification device. The alarm notification device is arguably the most important part of your fire alarm system as this is what gets triggered by initiating device and what makes the actual noises, such as bells, horns, or chimes when a fire emergency occurs. Alarm notification devices notify the people inside the building, as well as emergency personnel, when an event is underway when everything is all clear, and when a maintenance issue is detected. Usually, all these alarm notification devices are also equipped with LED flasher which will also give us a notification as warning lights. Signaling devices are also an effective way of communicating danger to individuals who may be visually or hearing impaired.

5. Remote Control and Display Panels

Remote controls and display panels allow people to control a set of fire alarm systems even when they aren’t nearby. These have proven to be extremely beneficial for large businesses with multiple levels of staff as it allows security personnel to easily check, activate, and deactivate fire alarms throughout the building from their office. 

6. Emergency break glass(Exit Break Glass/Manual release button)

Break glass (which draws its name from breaking the glass to pull a fire alarm) refers to a quick means for a person who does not have access privileges to certain information/areas to gain access when necessary. The Emergency Break Glass is designed for use in fire detection systems with a central control monitor. It can be used for open or closed circuits and when the glass is pressed hard or broken, the circuit cuts off instantly.

If your fire door requires a key, it’s hard to beat a traditional break glass key box for an instantly recognizable means of escape. The soft glass is designed for easy breaking using a hand or fingers to apply pressure on the panel. The doors will remain open after the glass is broken. It provides a quick method of escape or evacuation that still maintains your security.

Example in a data center can be, when you have any of the visitors in the data center there can be multiple rooms that they didn’t have access or these rooms are not configured with a fire alarm system to release automatically. At the time of any unexpected incidents, we can make use of emergency break glass which is a manual activity.

7. Manual call point(MCP)

 Manual call points(MCP) are essentially just another form of fire detection – the difference is that YOU are the detector! They make it easy for people like you and me to make it known that there is danger from fire on the premises and that action needs to be taken.

Manual call points are normally installed as part of a fire alarm system at regular intervals throughout a building. The call point will be connected on a loop to a fire alarm control panel and when you activate the manual call point, what you’re actually doing is sending a message to the control panel to let it know that there is a fire danger in your immediate area. The person in charge of monitoring the control panel will be able to see that the alarm has been activated and investigate and take action on your behalf. Some control panels even send automatic messages to the emergency services.

MCP is closely related to emergency break glass systems where these are interchangeably used. However, there is a slight difference between both that emergency break glass is used for providing access/invoking access for any restricted areas/doors at the time of any incidents and MCP is directly involved for reporting and initiating fire alarm. But this difference is situational where any one of these can be used to perform both the actions.

FIRE SUPPRESSION

Fire suppression systems are used to extinguish or prevent the spread of fire in a building. Suppression systems use a combination of dry chemicals and/or wet agents to suppress equipment fires. We have seen many of the components involved in fire detection systems and let us see some of the components which are involved in fire suppression systems.

1. Fire extinguishers

 A fire extinguisher is an active fire protection device used to extinguish or control small fires, often in emergency situations. They are extremely valuable in data centers because they are a quick solution to suppressing fire. Fire extinguishers allow for a potentially hazardous situation to be addressed before more drastic or costly measures need to be taken. It is not intended for use on an out-of-control fire, such as one which has reached the ceiling, endangers the user (i.e., no escape route, smoke, explosion hazard, etc.), or otherwise requires the expertise of a fire brigade. Typically, a fire extinguisher consists of a hand-held cylindrical pressure vessel containing an agent which can be discharged to extinguish a fire. Fire extinguishers manufactured with non-cylindrical pressure vessels also exist but are less common. You will be seeing these fire extinguishers in multiple locations of your data center environments.

It is important to note that only specific types of gaseous agents can be used in data center fire extinguishers. HFC-236fa is a gaseous agent specific to fire extinguishers, that has been approved for use in data centers. It is environmentally safe and can be discharged in occupied areas. Additionally, it exists as a gas therefore; it leaves no residue upon discharge. Simply put, it extinguishes fires by removing heat and chemically preventing combustion. 

If you could think that fire extinguishers are always limited in its usability. Such as if the fire is already spread across multiple areas of the building, will you be able to control this using extinguisher? Will you be able to access it every corner of the buildings? How many cylinders do you want to use? How long can you carry it? After all how many of us will take a complete risk of your life? From all these questions we can understand that we need the suppression systems to be automatically released and stop the fire. Let us see those fire suppression systems as below,

2. Industrial Fire Suppression Agents

There are many types of suppression systems available in the market. However, we will discuss only the systems which are most suitable to operate in data centers and human-friendly,

• Total Flooding Fire Extinguishing Systems – This method includes the use of major fire suppression systems such as ECARO-25® (HFC-125), FM-200 (HFC-227ea), 3M^TM Novec^TM 1230 Fire Protection Fluid and others, all of which offer fast-acting, and most importantly, people-safe fire-suppressing solutions. This method is also known as clean agent fire suppression systems since these systems are using the clean gaseous agents(inert gases or fluorine based compounds) to suppress the fire. Clean agents protect irreplaceable assets, such as computers, servers, electronics, artwork, archives and more, as they produce none of the damage often associated with traditional water sprinkler systems. A control panel releases clean agent into the room and/or underfloor when a designated number of detectors activate. A clean agent is waterless and does no harm to electronic components. Data Center can remain operational during a discharge. Total Flooding Fire Extinguishing Systems are comprised of a series of cylinders or high pressure tanks filled with an extinguishing or gaseous agent. A gaseous agent is a gaseous chemical compound that extinguishes the fire by either removing heat or oxygen or both. Given a closed, well-sealed room, gaseous agents are very effective at extinguishing a fire while leaving no residue. When installing such a system, the total volume of the room and how much equipment is being protected is taken into consideration. The number of tanks or cylinders to be installed are dependent upon these factors. It is important to note, that the Standard that guides Total Flooding Suppression Systems is NFPA 2001. If a fire occurs and the system is activated, the gaseous agent discharges and fills the room in about 10 seconds. One of the best features of this system is that it is able to infiltrate hard to reach places, such as equipment cabinets. This makes Total Flooding Fire Extinguishing Systems perfect for data centers.
• Water Sprinkler – There are currently three configurations of water sprinkler systems available: wet-pipe, dry-pipe, and pre-action. Wet-pipe systems pipes always full of water are the most commonly used and are usually found in insulated buildings. Dry-pipe systems are charged with compressed air or nitrogen to prevent damage from freezing. Pre-action systems prevent accidental water discharge by requiring a combination of sensors to activate before allowing water to fill the sprinkler pipes. Because of this feature, pre-action systems are highly recommended for data center environments. Lastly, it is important to note that water sprinklers are not typically recommended for data centers, but depending on local fire codes they may be required. Often times a requirement of the data center(mostly in nonproductive areas) even though water suppression would cause considerable damage to computing equipment. As we discussed above, The first and most important goal is life safety, which is to prevent injury and loss of life Human life and health always take top priority in an emergency.
• Water Mist – New technology that atomizes water droplets into a non-conductive fog that suppresses fire without water damage. The small water droplets allow the water mist to control, suppress or extinguish fires. This technology has begun accepting by data centers as an alternative to traditional sprinkler systems. Presently this is widely used in data centers of the United States and Europe.

OTHER COMPONENTS

There is some of the other components and actions that you need to be aware of which are involved in fire suppression and detection systems,

1. OxyReduct Systems

This method works by creating and constantly regulating a reduced oxygen environment in which fires cannot be ignited and burn. The system operates 24x7x365, constantly monitoring oxygen levels within the controlled environment, making adjustments accordingly, requiring no manual intervention. By introducing nitrogen, the oxygen content can be reduced and held at a precise level. Oxyreduct is not a reactive system like traditional gas suppression and sprinkler systems which only activate once a fire has actually started, hence these methodologies can be said as proactive systems against fire. An OxyReduct protected area is completely safe to enter and work in. Even though the advantages are many for this technology the adoption is not seen widely in data centers due to complexity, the cost involved and other suppression systems that are working effectively. These systems can also be integrated with a fire alarm system which will detect and send a signal in case of any fire(in a mixed environment).

2. Manual Inhibit button

 Manual Inhibit button is used to momentarily interrupt the release circuit signal when the control unit is in the alarm condition. The device consists of a stainless steel faceplate and a modular switch assembly. Suppose if you confirmed that the gas was released by mistake and you need to abort the gas release, you can make use of these buttons.

3. Building Safety Interface

The building safety interface allows the fire alarm systems to control other elements of the building when needed. For example, in the event of a fire emergency, a building safety interface could communicate directly with the building’s access control system to hold doors in the open position or keep doors closed to restrict the passage of smoke from one area to another, all of which makes escaping from burning buildings safer and easier. Another safety measure could be all elevators would stop working during any evacuation to avoid any potential damages during fire incidents.

4. HVAC equipment

 HVAC stands for Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning is the technology of indoor and vehicular environmental comfort. Its goal is to provide thermal comfort and acceptable indoor air quality. But think of a situation where HVAC equipment is still working even when the fire is occurring in the building? As the usual process of an HVAC, it will bring more oxygen that can increase fire or it can cause to carry this fire to another part of the building. Hence in a general scenario, we may configure to shutdown HVAC equipment at the time of any fire incidents.

5. Emergency Power Off

One important safety feature to mention that is not directly related to communication or suppression systems is the Emergency Power Off or (EPO). If a fire progresses to the point where all other means of suppression have been exhausted, the authorities that arrive on site will have the option to utilize this feature. The EPO is intended to power down equipment or an entire installation in an emergency to protect personnel and equipment.

EPO is typically used either by firefighting personnel or by equipment operators. When used by firefighters, it is used to assure that equipment is de-energized during firefighting so that firefighters are not subjected to shock hazards. The secondary purpose is to facilitate firefighting by eliminating electricity as a source of energy feeding combustion. EPO may also be activated in case of a flood, electrocution, or other emergencies. There is a high cost associated with abruptly shutting down a data center. Unfortunately, EPO tripping is often the result of human error. Much debate has ensued over the use of EPO and may one day lead to the elimination of EPO in data centers.

WORKING PRINCIPLE OF FIRE DETECTION AND SUPPRESSION SYSTEMS

We have seen different components involved in this system. Now let us see how these systems work together to provide us a detection and suppression of fire. The basic working principle between used in systems are similar. However, the working principle of the entire system is highly dependent on the suppression systems that you are using(clean agent, sprinkler, water mist, OxyReduct Systems).

We will consider one of the most widely used fire detection and suppression system which is FM-200. FM-200 systems are known worldwide for providing fast, clean and safe fire suppression solutions. FM-200 works by removing heat from a fire so that combustion cannot be sustained, its unique characteristics also prevent re-ignition. FM-200 does not remove the oxygen level to a point where it is unsafe for occupants to remain in the room.

The suppression system can be initiated either automatically or manually depending on the scenario. When we say that it’s operating in manual mode which means that humans are giving instruction to control panel that we have identified fire(fire detection systems are ignored here) and need to initiate suppression process.

• Fire Detection – As the name indicates, this is where the initial stage where the fire is detected with the help of multiple sensors and equipment. As soon as the fire is detected in the protected area, a signal is immediately sent to the control unit.
• Control Panel – We can say that this is the heart of fire alarm systems which initiates a serious of actions such as triggering visual and audible warnings, closing down ventilation systems, shutdown HVAC, stops elevators, releases access control systems, equipment shutdowns and triggering the discharge of FM-200 suppression system. However please note that the actions which will be performed by a control panel are optional. For example, it’s not necessary that you will allow access control to be released at the time of incidents for security reasons and so on.
• FM-200 Suppression Agent – Suppression agent is propelled through system piping and out of specially configured discharge nozzles into the protected area.
• Discharge Nozzle – In less than 10 seconds, the concentration of FM-200 fire suppression agent will reach 7% which you can imagine, how fast the gas discharge actions and effectiveness of this system will be.

One of the best ways for you to understand this process would be to watch a simple video by Engineering Tutorials.

SUMMARY

 The goal of any fire suppression system is to detect fire as soon as it starts and immediately suppress it, preventing the fire from spreading. There are many types and sizes of fire suppression systems. The system design will vary based on the asset needing protection and the type of fire hazard. For example, a piece of ground support equipment at an airport would be treated differently than a server room.

In a data center environment, there can be multiple methods used together to have the best results. For example,

• In the case of fire detectors, we can use a combination of these such as smoke detectors(in data hall), heat detectors(in the generator room with a specific threshold temperature), etc.
• The detectors can be located in multiple locations of a single area for added safety, such as in a white space area there could be a detector between roof and ceiling, there can be detector between the ceiling and raised floor and there can be detectors between under the raised floor and hard floor.
• Fire suppression and detection control panels can be individually operated(fire alarm control panel & fire suppression control panel) or it can be managed from a single control panel.

There is no doubt that fire detection and suppression systems are an inevitable part of a data center.

Knowledge Credits: www.fireline.com

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