Standpipes are part of most modern buildings’ fire suppression system. Often, standpipes connect to fire sprinklers, the latter designed to automatically douse a fire when activated by heat. Standpipe hookups and signs that indicate the presence/configuration of fire sprinklers usually appear together on the outside of a building—thus this project’s name.
Fire sprinklers are enthusiastically endorsed by those with strong incentives for safety; installing (or not installing) fire sprinklers becomes an explicit value judgment on human life and the value of property, visibly codified into a structure.
Using the methods of critical spatial practice, I wish to examine the conditions under which building owners are likely to install a fire sprinkler system. To facilitate the data collection process, I created an iPhone application called PhotoLocatr that geolocates and tags photos taken with a digital camera.
the case for fire sprinklers
The American Fire Sprinkler Association, a national trade group, along with countless other sources with strong incentives for personal safety (such as large life and property insurance companies, local fire departments, news stations, government agencies, etc.) enthusiastically endorse fire sprinkler use both in residential and commercial buildings.
According to the US Fire Association (part of the Department of Homeland Security), “statistics demonstrate that there has never [emphasis mine] been any multiple loss of life in a fully sprinklered building,” while an estimated 1.6 million fires occurred just in 2007(!). That’s pretty impressive.
With incentives such as reduced insurance premiums, increased life safety and the likelihood of less property damage in the rare event of a fire, wouldn’t you think that *every* building owner would want to install fire sprinklers?
Unfortunately, that’s not the reality. In addition to misconceptions about sprinklers’ value, there are many ways to avoid having to install them, the most notable being “grandfathering”. “Grandfathering” essentially means avoiding major modifications to a building to avoid being subject to current building code; most NYC landlords are very good at not improving their buildings!
building code
Building owners in NYC are required by current building/fire code to install a sprinkler system in buildings that meet certain criteria; hospitals, for instance, or large assembly areas. Again, many exceptions exist to this rule (private single family homes, for instance), but typically new construction requires fire sprinklers.
Building code also requires buildings to have signs that indicate to firefighters parameters of a standpipe or fire sprinkler system’s operation. The standard is set forth by a national rule-making body, in NFPA standard 14. The standard reads:
6.4.5.2.1 If automatic sprinklers are also supplied by the fire department connection, the sign or combination of signs shall indicate both designated services (e.g. “STANDPIPE AND AUTOSPKR,” or “AUTOSPKR AND STANDPIPE”).
Colored covers (or paint) on the standpipe indicate how the system works; red means the hookup connects to a standpipe only (i.e. does not feed sprinklers, or none are present); green means an automatic sprinkler system is present and connected to the hookup; aluminum color means sprinklers are present but not automatic (requires turn-on by the fire department), and yellow signifies a combination sprinkler/standpipe system (both are fed by a common standpipe).
See this document for more information about NYFD standpipe standards and usage.
my research
My research process consists of collecting geolocated standpipe photos in New York City (specifically Manhattan for now), and mapping the categorized results (full, partial or no sprinkler coverage). To do this, I created a tool called PhotoLocatr that runs on the iPhone and makes use of Flickr to store and manage the photos.
This combination and process results in geolocated photos on Flickr that I can categorize (tag), and map—making it easy to spot trends or patterns in the data.
Part of the collected data appears below:
the results (so far…)
Results so far are above (view on geocommons); orange dots represent “full coverage” by sprinklers, while grey dots represent partial or no coverage.
The distribution of full vs. partially protected buildings is pretty uniform so far; as I expand my data set, adding extra dimensions (commercial, residential, building size, etc.) and collecting anecdotal observations, I hope to discover interesting trends. Check back!