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Norma Oficial Mexicana (NOM) 002-STPS-2000, is the actual Mexican normative in regards prevention and protection against fire; it describes the protection that a facility has to have based on it’s fire risk level. Fire risk level is defined by: Number of persons, area to protect, type of construction, earthquake type of zone, installation risks, warehousing of oil, flammable components and explosives, possible chemical reaction to extinguishing agents, location and water source capacity, etc. Based on which, the risk can be: High, medium and low; which is the basis to establish the type of fire protection needed: Extinguishers, detectors, fire alarm and/or fixed fire protection system.

Mexican law requires that companies classified as high fire risk ones have a fixed fire protection system, which is defined as the “permanent system installed to fight fire, the most commonly used are hose and sprinklers”. The normative establish that the building has to “have a fixed equipment against fire, based on an evaluation, which has to define it’s type and specifications, and be a complement of the extinguishers”. Not every risk needs hose or sprinklers, some of them need foam or other chemical fire protection systems.

A hose system has to comply with: Being in a closed circuit; have a calculation memory; have an exclusive water supply source of at least 2 hours of 946 litters/minute flow or to be defined according to risk/area and to have a supply of 5 liters per square meter of construction, as well as water storage for 20 cubic meters; have a pump system with two sources of energy (electric and internal combustion) and to be automated; have a jockey pump to keep constant pressure; have a twin available connection or compatible accessories with firemen services, connected to private fire service main and not directly to water supply source; keep a minimum pressure of 7 kg per square centimeter in the whole main, etc.

Fixed systems have to: Be subject to manual or automatic activation; have supervision over all the activators; have interrupters that allow system testing without activation. Fixed systems are: Fire protection private service mains of sprinklers supplied by water, different chemicals, foam, halo substitutes and/or other clean agents.
 
 
 
 
 

    
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