The Needles Lighthouse is found on the outermost part of the Isle of Wight in Great Britain. The lighthouse is constructed from granite and it stands 33.25 metres (109 ft.) above sea water. It was designed by civil engineer James Walker in 1859 at a cost of £20,000 – estimated today, to be in excess of £4M. Despite GPS technology on board modern ships, lighthouses like the Needles are far from redundant. Thus its light beam is considered to be a mission critical apparatus for the thousands of ships passing close to the rocks every year. Failure to protect the light house diesel generators in case of a fire could result in a catastrophic chain of events. The plant was originally protected by an FM200 pressurised gas suppression system, which besides being an greenhouse gas, had failed. The client was also keen to reduce the risks to operatives for transportation of pressurised cylinders in hazardous conditions, therefore FirePro fire suppression technology was selected.
Results of Implementation FirePro systems were transported by boat and installed by Allfire trained personnel overcoming the challenges presented by this harsh environment. The system is configured to provide alarms back to the monitoring station on fault, first stage fire and extinguishing discharge. Allfire designed the system so that it can conduct a controlled shut down of the generator on first stage fire activation. The unique attributes of FirePro provide assurances to both operators and maintenance teams.
• The project exemplifies FirePro’s suitability for obsolete or failed pressurised gaseous suppression systems.
• The client is assured by an independently certified (KIWA & UL) 15 year product life cycle, and wholly sustainable, environmentally sound solution.
• As of Sept 21 systems may now be installed & certificated in accordance with the LPCB scheme ref 1204.
• The safety logistics in this challenging scenario proved that FirePro was the obvious solution.
• FirePro does not require compliance to either F-Gas regulations or the Pressure Equipment Directive.
• FirePro is Independently certificated for onshore, offshore, marine and ATEX applications.
“We always ensure we advise the right engineered solution for every application. On this occasion we recommended FirePro for the project for numerous reasons, one key advantage being that the units are non-pressurised making them much safer to transport and hand carry. The client was very happy with the finished article” - Managing Director Harry Woodage
