The FIRE Program uses the Newton-Raphson method for performing the hydraulic calculations. Calculations can be made for a given water supply pressure or they can be performed such that FIRE determines the lowest water supply pressure that adequately drive the sprinkler system. Calculations are very fast and accurate. The user manual lists all the pertinent equations to allow full manual verification. The FIRE program is a true Windows program complete with toolbars and hyperlinked help.
All input is checked at the time of entry so that no improper data can be entered.
If using AutoCAD and the SoftDesk Piping module, FIRE can take data directly from a CAD drawing file. Upon completion of the input process, all data is saved and can be reviewed and edited whenever desired. The general project data includes the project name and location, the client name, sprinkler specifications, hazard description, density requirements, hose stream allowances, hydrant test data, and other such data. The pipe data requires that each pipe section be defined as having a beginning and ending node number. If sprinkler heads are located at the pipe nodes, then the sprinkler K-factor must be given.