This is an outline of many areas in the codes where sprinklers are required or used to take advantage of the many trade-offs giving architects and builders flexibility in the design and construction of a building.

In this column, I would like to focus on the handbook’s approach to sprinkler system hydraulic calculations. Note that hydraulically calculated sprinkler systems did not appear in NFPA 13 until the 1972 edition.

NFPA 13D, Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems in One- and Two-Family Dwellings and Manufactured Homes, is effective as of Sept. 3, 2018. NFPA 13R. Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems in Low-Rise Residential Occupancies, is effective as of May 24, 2018.

A look at some of the technical changes and clarifications in the soon-to-be-published, updated standard.

The new format of the 2019 NFPA 13, which reduced the document by nearly 50 pages, now organizes chapters in the way a fire sprinkler system is put together.

Determining the placement of medical gas zone valves in health-care facilities is important to prevent a fire.

Most cities have not required the sprinklers in residential high-rises, even though they pose the same dangers as fires in commercial buildings.

Honolulu’s first retrofit fire safety legislation for high-rise apartments needs to serve as a building block for the inevitable complete sprinkler mandate that is to come.

The underground water systems that support aboveground fire protection systems are integral to successful outcomes in the event of a fire.