flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

After a devastating fire, Ohio business adds BILCO smoke vents in swift rebuild

Sponsored Content Fire and Life Safety

After a devastating fire, Ohio business adds BILCO smoke vents in swift rebuild

The new facility includes the latest and greatest in cold storage technology along with fire protection upgrades, including 18 smoke vents manufactured by The BILCO Company.


By The BILCO Company | October 4, 2018
After Devastating Fire, Ohio Business Adds BILCO Smoke Vents In Swift Rebuild

After a fire completely destroyed their facility in Columbus, Ohio, Dick Cold Storage built a new facility focused on fire safety. Photo: Ryan Leasure

  

After a fire destroyed the Dick Cold Storage facility in August of 2016, the company’s leadership decided quickly to rebuild – and dramatically enhance the structure’s fire protection equipment.

Dick Cold Storage opened a new state-of-the-art facility in June 2018 in Columbus, Ohio. Working with Tippmann Innovation, the new facility includes the latest and greatest in cold storage technology along with fire protection upgrades, including 18 smoke vents manufactured by The BILCO Company of Connecticut.

The custom-made smoke vents measure 7-feet by 18-feet and include a quad leaf design. The vents allow for the escape of smoke, heat, and gases in a burning building. BILCO’s vents include a Thermolatch® II positive hold/release mechanism that ensures reliable operation when a fire occurs. It also automatically releases vent covers upon the melting of a 165°F (74°C) fusible link. Gas spring operators are designed to open the covers against snow and wind loads and include integral dampers to assure that the covers open at a controlled rate of speed.

“Two of the biggest challenges we face in fighting any fire are heat and smoke,’’ said Steve Martin, Battalion Chief for the Columbus Fire Department. “The heat of the fire radiates on everything surrounding it, causing the flames to spread and rapid degradation of structural elements.”

The building that went up in flames in 2016 was not equipped with smoke vents. While they would not have prevented the fire, they would have allowed Martin and his team of firefighters to be more aggressive in fighting it. The scene was simply too dangerous to allow firefighters inside the building, and firefighters had to let the fire burn itself out. “Buildings that do not lend themselves to ventilation, such as cold storage buildings, are especially dangerous to firefighters. If there is no known life-safety issue, firefighters will retreat to a defensive position and fight the fire from outside the building instead of going inside,’’ Martin said.

Smoke vents play an important part in fire protection of commercial buildings. Regulations for smoke vents in commercial structures are outlined in NFPA 204, Standard for Smoke and Heat Venting. NFPA 204 provides calculations to determine the required dimensions and spacing of heat vents. The number of smoke vents depends upon the size of the building or area protected, the height of the ceilings and depth of the expected smoke layer, according to Robert Solomon, P.E. for the National Fire Protection Association.

 

The new facility features roof mounted automatic smoke vents manufactured by The BILCO Company for safe emergency egress and to aide firefighting efforts. Photo: Ryan Leasure

 

“A cold storage facility may have a greater fuel load than a theater, which correlates to a design with a higher expected heat release rate, greater temperature outputs and an increased smoke production rate, which may require larger, more closely spaced vents,’’ Solomon said. “The design fire influences the number, size, spacing, and activation requirements.”

The additional fire protection at the new facility include fire access doors, horns, strobes, pull stations at doors and linear heat detection in freezers. Dick Cold Storage, which has been in business for nearly a century, is back to serving clients within a 550 mile radius of its Columbus location.

Company President Don Dick remembers watching fire destroy the building where his family had worked for so many years. After the initial shock, there was little doubt would rebuild with a new facility.  “When you have time to think, you realize you just have to get up and running and get back to what you are doing,’’ he said. “You have to be as efficient as you can. We thought it was dead, but you can’t think that way. You have to think what we are going to do from this day forward.”

 

Automatic Smoke Vents protect property and aid firefighters in bringing a fire under control by removing smoke, heat, and gases from a burning building. Photo: Ryan Leasure

 

Related Stories

Sponsored | | Sep 4, 2014

Learning by design: Steel curtain wall system blends two school campuses

In this the new facility, middle school and high school classroom wings flank either side of the auditorium and media center. A sleek, glass-and-steel curtain wall joins them together, creating an efficient, shared space. SPONSORED CONTENT

| Aug 25, 2014

Glazing plays key role in reinventing stairway design

Within the architectural community, a movement called "active design" seeks to convert barren and unappealing stairwells originally conceived as emergency contingencies into well-designed architectural focal points. SPONSORED CONTENT

Sponsored | | Aug 16, 2014

Fire-rated framing system makes the grade at Johnson & Wales University Center

The precision engineering of TGP’s Fireframes Aluminum Series creates narrow profiles and crisp sightlines at Johnson & Wales University Center for Physician Assistant Studies

Sponsored | | Aug 8, 2014

Safe and secure: Fire and security glazing solution for Plaquemines Parish Detention Center

When the designers at L. R. Kimball looked for an all-in-one clear, wire-free glazing solution that protects against fire, bullets and forced entry for the new Plaquemines Parish Detention Center, SAFTI FIRST supplied a complete single-source tested and listed assembly that was easy to install and maintenance-free. 

| Jul 8, 2014

Does Zaha Hadid’s Tokyo Olympic Stadium have a design flaw?

After being criticized for the cost and size of her stadium design for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, a Japanese architect points out a major design flaw in the stadium that may endanger the spectators.

Sponsored | | Jul 7, 2014

Channel glass illuminates science at the University of San Francisco

The University of San Francisco’s new John Lo Schiavo Center for Science and Innovation brings science to the forefront of academic life. Its glossy, three-story exterior invites students into the facility, and then flows sleekly down into the hillside where below-grade laboratories and classrooms make efficient use of space on the landlocked campus. 

Sponsored | | Jun 27, 2014

SAFTI FIRST Now Offers GPX Framing with Sunshade Connectors

For the Doolittle Maintenance Facility, SAFTI FIRST provided 60 minute, fire resistive wall openings in the exterior using SuperLite II-XL 60 insulated with low-e glazing in GPX Framing with a clear anodized finish. 

| Jun 25, 2014

AIA Foundation launches Regional Resilient Design Studio

The Studio is the first to be launched as part of the AIA Foundation’s National Resilience Program, which plans to open a total of five Regional Resilience Design Studios nationwide in collaboration with Architecture for Humanity, and Public Architecture.

| May 27, 2014

Fire Rated Glass contributes to open lab environment at JSNN

Openness and transparency were high priorities in the design of the Joint School of Nanoscience & Nanoengineering within the Gateway University Research Park in Greensboro, N.C. Because the facility’s nanobioelectronics clean room houses potentially explosive materials, it needed to be able to contain flames, heat, and smoke in the event of a fire. SPONSORED CONTENT 

| May 15, 2014

'Virtually indestructible': Utah architect applies thin-shell dome concept for safer schools

At $94 a square foot and "virtually indestructible," some school districts in Utah are opting to build concrete dome schools in lieu of traditional structures. 

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category




halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021