The CSRA Chapter had a joint meeting with the Columbia ASCE Chapter on December 17, 2014 at the Brookland Baptist Church’s Conference Center.

Ralph Foster made a presentation about fire protection underground piping. The presentation detailed the requirements in NFPA 24, Fire Sprinkler Specification Sheets of underground piping, and the requirements of the State Fire Marshal’s Office of plan review.

Civil engineers frequently get pulled in to the plan review process when a utility contractor installed the underground fire protection piping as allowed by the Sprinkler Act. Utility contractors don’t generate shop drawings but install the piping based on the engineer’s drawings for the project. Making the engineer’s drawings the only drawing for the SFM to review.

The presentation was well received. One attendee said “This was the most complete and concise presentation on fire protection systems he had seen!”