"Kitchen Hood Fire Suppression Systems"

Wet chemical fire suppression systems used in commercial cooking operations have an excellent record of helping suppress cooking fires when the systems are properly installed and maintained. Cintas Fire Protection uses the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standards 17A – Wet Chemical Extinguishing Systems and NFPA 96 – Ventilation Control and Fire Protection of Commercial Cooking Operations as a guide for inspecting, maintaining, recharging, and hydrostatically testing kitchen fire suppression systems.

General Requirements

• Cooking equipment that produces grease-laden vapors and that might be a source of ignition of grease in the hood, grease removal device, or duct of commercial cooking operations shall be protected by fire extinguishing equipment. Examples of cooking equipment that produce grease-laden vapors include, but are not limited to, appliances such as deep-fat fryers, ranges, griddles, broilers, woks, tilting skillets, and braising pans.
• Fire-extinguishing equipment shall include both automatic fire-extinguishing systems as primary protection and portable fire extinguishers as secondary backup. Newly installed kitchen suppression systems shall comply with the UL 300 fire test standard. In existing systems, when changes are made in the cooking media, positioning, or replacement of the cooking equipment occur, the system owner shall responsible for assuring that the fire extinguishing system complies with UL 300.
• The system owner shall also assure that changes or modifications to the hazard after installation of the fire extinguishing systems shall result in the re-evaluation of the system design by a properly trained and qualified person or company. Portable fire extinguishers shall be installed in kitchen cooking areas in accordance with NFPA 10 and shall be specifically listed for such use (i.e., they require a K Class wet chemical extinguisher).