148 The Green and Virtual Data Center
(www.nfpa.org) is a good source for additional information about fire sup-
pression and protection in general.
Table 6.2 shows the various classes of fires, with approaches for sup-
pressing them.
Another consideration for fire detection and suppression, as well as
general facility-wide site planning, is to protect against BLEVE events. A
BLEVE event is a Boiling-Liquid/Expanding-Vapor Explosion, such as a
leaking liquefied propane (LP) gas tank storing pressurized liquid that
expands into a gas and explodes when exposed to a spark. Besides LP gas,
other substances that when cooled are stored in a liquid state susceptible to
BLEVE events include liquid nitrogen, refrigerants, and liquid helium.
As these and other substances ...