Why are the insurance companies and some fire departments informing restaurant owners to upgrade older fire suppression systems?
Changes in commercial cooking methods in Canada are due to the fact certain fire suppression systems currently installed in restaurant cooking areas may not provide adequate fire protection. The two changes in commercial food preparation techniques that have the most impact on fire protection are the use of vegetable cooking oils for frying and the use of “energy efficient” appliances. Vegetable oils burn at higher temperatures than animal fats and create fires that are more difficult to extinguish. Energy efficient cooking appliances and highly insulated fryers help keep cooking oils and metal appliances hotter for longer periods. This also contributes to more difficult in fire extinguishing control. In the past, fire suppression systems were not designed with those specific hazards in mind. With this higher fire suppression difficulty it was necessary to implement new test protocols. On November 21, 1994, Underwriter Laboratories of Canada adopted a new standard called ULC1254 . All
