Fire protection for the woodworking industry

Prevent fire and sawdust explosions in the wood industry

Wood is a valuable natural resource and woodworking plants are often highly automated to make the best possible use of the material. This means costly machinery operating at high speeds, where production stoppage often means significant financial losses.

75%

Share of insurance losses in the wood and furniture industry due to fires and explosions

260

degrees C – approximate ignition temperature of wood dust.

Rapid temperature rise in event of friction

Woodworking at high speeds can cause rapid temperature rise in the event of friction, which can result from malfunction. By tailoring a fire protection system that uses fast IR-radiation and flame detection, in combination with effective water spray extinguishing and water mist suppression, Firefly helps avoid costly fires and dust explosions in the woodworking industry.

Large quantities of wood shavings and saw dust are frequently present in and around woodworking machinery. If ignited, these materials can cause rapid fires resulting in substantial damage. In the worst case, wood dust can cause an explosion. With a Firefly system monitoring the machine and its immediate surroundings with flame detectors, ignition sources are effectively suppressed using water mist.

The ignition temperature of a layer of wood dust is around 300 degrees C. Bearing in mind that hot items below 650°C are not perceived by the human eye to be glowing, this is a relatively low ignition temperature.

Leading cause of financial loss

Fires and explosions are the most significant causes of loss in a majority of property insurance claims in the wood processing and furniture manufacturing industry. According to a 10-year study conducted by. leading insurance consultancy Risk Logic, these claims account for almost 75% of the accumulated financial losses in the wood processing and furniture manufacturing industry.

In furniture manufacturing, wood dust accumulation is frequently combined with lacquer spray finishing, which further increases the risk of fire and explosion.

Firefly’s solutions for the woodworking industry help detect the first signs of ignition and suppress fire at an early stage, avoiding costly downtime and damage to machinery.

Firefly PlanerGuard™

In many cases, large amounts of shavings are accumulated in and around the open planer. When ignited, these shavings can cause rapid fires resulting in considerable damage. Firefly’s PlanerGuard™ solution for open planers monitors the machine by using flame detectors installed local to the area. Non-invasive water mist suppression aims at quick and effective suppression of the fire, even in the closed areas of an open planer.

Firefly SanderGuard™

The fine dust generated by a sanding machine can, when ignited, give rise to severe dust explosions and rapid spread of fire. Firefly’s SanderGuard™ system solution is designed for all types of sanders.

Firefly’s SanderGuard™ system solution includes quick flame detection inside the sanding machine and water mist suppression, providing optimal protection of this important link in the production chain.

Key benefits

Quick System Response Time

Minimum Water Usage

Third Party Approved System

Precision Detection

Safe and certified for your industry. Read more about our certifications and approvals here.

Unique Fire Protection Solutions for the woodworking industry

ULTRA QUICK SYSTEM RESPONSE TIME

The Quick Suppression System, which is part of our protection solution for shredders, operates with high performance flame detectors for extremely quick detection. The efficient water mist system has remarkable suppression capabilities which reduce damages on machinery.

PRECISION DETECTION

The True IR Spark detectors enable Precision Detection of ALL types of ignition sources such as hot black particles, glowing embers and sparks. The detectors are insensitive to daylight. Systems are also equipped with Multi-Channel flame detectors, using advanced algorithms for Precision Detection of flames with high immunity to false positives.

EXCELLENT SUPPRESSION CAPABILITIES

The Water Mist System with fire-tested and verified extinguishing capabilities utilizes very small amounts of water resulting in less impact on machinery, minimized production loss and down time

FIREFLY FILTER PROTECTION

Dust extraction systems are vital to take care of dust generated in dry bulk handling processes. The risk in these units is considered very high due to the high concentration of dust. Firefly’s FM-approved Spark Detection and Extinguishing System will efficiently prevent ignition sources from entering the risk zones.

Downloads

Firefly EXIMIO™

Firefly Spark Detection System

Firefly Quick Suppression System

Firefly Woodworking

Firefly EXsolvo®

Keeping industry leaders safe

KONSTANTIN ČERNYCH

Project Manager

Grigeo

“The installation of the Firefly systems has brought safety to the operators.
Before, we had to be very observant and we knew that our reaction was crucial for the handling of incidents. Now we can rely on the Firefly Fire Protection System.”

NICOLAS AL HOUAYEK

Corporate manager

Acme corp

“Firefly has been on our side since day one, we have worked with their team during the project definition to get the best ratio between risk management and CAPEX optimization. Firefly keeps our people safe while we concentrate on improving our performance standards in the alternative fuel industry.”

LEENDERT-JAN VAN DER HOUT

Project Engineer

Cérélia

“With the Firefly System an early detection of hot particles leads to immediate extinguishing and prevents the build up of a fire. Since the system was installed, Cérélia has had numerous detections but no fires.”

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