24
May

Hydrant main system tested

A major Brisbane road thoroughfare was partially blocked on Friday 7 May to enable Ferm Engineering to coordinate and conduct one of the city’s largest fire hydrant and water main system tests.

A temporary shutdown of one lane of Kingsford Smith Drive and a smaller street was required to conduct capacity testing on the fire water network for a petroleum bulk supply terminal.

Working with Australian Fire Services Testing (AFST), Ferm conducted the test outside peak hours to ensure minimal disruption for road users. The work was part of an ongoing project for high-hazard facilities in Brisbane, as reported in an earlier newsletter.

Ferm tested Brisbane City Council’s water flow to the property to ensure there was sufficient water to supplement onsite tanks in a worst-case fire scenario.

Fortunately, all tests showed adequate high-flow water across 10 hydrant points in both streets.

Ferm CEO Steve Burton said Ferm regularly arranged fire demand water flow and audit tests for clients and had just completed a similar exercise for a large NSW power station.

As part of ongoing fire safety maintenance, Ferm recommends authority water demand testing be conducted on industrial sites, high-rise buildings, and transport infrastructure that have large at-risk fire protection systems.

Ferm can conduct tests in association with an agency like AFST and prepare maintenance contracts to ensure testing is conducted by qualified contractors and auditors, with Ferm making annual quality checks of their service work.