Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-31
HANGAR FIRE SPRINKLER DATA
ARE DISCLOSED BY u. S. GROUP
Representatives of Air Industry Object.
to Installation When Area Exceeds
Prescribed Figure.

The report of the Fact-Finding
Committee on Control of Airplane
Hangar Fires by Automatic Applica-
ton of Water, organized by the Aero
! nautics Branch of the Department of
Commerce to determine the practi-
cability of applying the principle Of
automatic issue of water from sprinkler
systems to control fires in airplane
hangers, was announced by Clarence
M. Young, Assistant Secretary Of COM
merce for Aeronautics.
The tests, which were conducted
! here from April % to May 2, were the
result of a series of conferences be-
tween the aeronautic industry and the
| National Board of Fire Underwriters
| on the proposed code of the national
board for the construction and protec-
| ton of airports, which include re-
| qlirements dealing with automatic
| sprinklers.
while substantial agreement on the
major portion of the requirements OF
| the proposed code resulted from these
| conferences" Mr. Young said, 1.-The
representatives of the aeronautic in
dlstry as whole vigorously objected
| to a provision requiring the installation
of automatic sprinklers employing
water when the area of the hangar ex-
these representatives of this industry
| took the stand that water could not
| be used effectively as an extingulsher
| in airplane hangar fires undera conoi-
| tions of a gasoline leak and resultant
spread of gasoline on the floor to and
beneath adjacent airplanes. 1t was
| also their contention that the high
combustibility of the airplane wings,
due to the f1ammable nature Of the
material CdopeO with which they are
coated and the practice of storing air.
planes with wings overlapping, pre-
| Guided any possibility OF fire ex-
tinguishment by water.
"On the other hand, the fire protec-
ton interests contended That auto
! matte sprinklers employing water,
based on experience with their use In
somewhat similar occupanc1es and
under similar conditions, can be effec-
lively used for this purpose.
I'm order to arrive at a settlement
Of the matter. the National Board OF
Fire Underwriters agreed to postpone
the PRONUNCIATION of the recommended
good practice requirements pending
the contamination of series OF tests
to determine the effectiveness of the
automatic application of water by
sprinklerS in controlling airplane
hangar fire. To this end the aero
nautics branch organized fact-find-
ing committee under the Craftsmanship
of Harry H. Blee, director of aero
nautic development OF the branch, to
plan and conduct such series OF tests
under conditions representing as near
~ as possible those actually obtaining
in airplane hangers.
Consideration of the different
sources or locations Of ignition OF flres
in hangers determined that the test
program should include:
Fire from a source exterior to the
airplane causing ignition of a wing
tip;
"Fire starting along and within the
wing from a short circuit of the wiring
system;
Fire starting in leaking gasoline
within the fuselage; and
Fire starting in gasoline spilled on
the floor and covering large area.
while the start of fire Is most I'M
certain and the variations are almost
infinite, it was thought that the d.
visions as given would represent the
more usual conditions. The COMPARE
son of the different sprinkler systems,
one with another, involved the repett-
ton of the fires with all conditions
duplicated.
"The results of the tests and the OBJ
servations with respect to the conol-
tons surrounding them lead the COM
mittee to express the following conclu-
sions as to the effectiveness of the au-
tomato application OF water by sprln-