Fire safety for parking facilities

Many people rely on the use of their own private vehicles or public transportation to get them from A to B. If a fire were to break out on the parking area or bus depot at a premises such as a shopping mall, office building or airport, flames and smoke that are not contained immediately could cause total damage and pose a hazard to connecting structures. Therefore, even a false alarm response would be to evacuate all drivers and passengers due to these high risks and this would create business disruption and inconvenience through delays in onward travel. Parking areas require constant monitoring for any signs of real fire and a reliable system to prevent nuisance alarms.

Fire safety challenges on parking facilities

Complex architecture

The layout of undercover parking lots, parking garages and vehicle depots makes fire safety a complex task. These buildings are sometimes on multiple levels with semi-open structures or completely underground, below a commercial or residential premises. Finding suitable installation points and performing maintenance for classic detectors might represent a challenge in these environments.

High fire loads

Vehicle parking and depot facilities carry a high fire load with elevated risks of extensive property damage. Both combustion engine and electric vehicles (EV) present certain fire risk. However, each of these vehicle types would require different methods to extinguish and contain a fire quickly, adding further complexity to fire safety on these premises. In addition, EV charging stations and other electrical points, as well as maintenance work such as welding on depots, all generate heat with the potential to spark and ignite a fire.

Poor lighting

Outdoor exposure

Parking areas are often either completely outdoors within an enclosed premises or part of an undercover structure which is exposed to the elements at least on one side. Weather conditions such as powerful sunlight and strong winds have the potential to ignite a fire, making parked vehicles vulnerable to fire damage. Parking areas which are accessible day and night are also subject to vandalism and arson – another major cause of fires. The continual entry and exit of people and vehicles, for example, with cigarette smoke or dense exhaust emissions could trigger false alarms.

AVIOTEC fast and dependable fire detection

Video-based flame and smoke detection, AVIOTEC from Bosch, reliably monitors parking garages, vehicle depots and maintenance sites 24/7 with integrated cutting-edge technology. AVIOTEC’s detection capabilities are effective in all conditions and less prone to nuisance alarms. The system detects the first indication of a developing fire at its source in real time, triggering an alert within seconds to allow for a rapid response and containment.

Challenges with poor visibility are addressed with the system’s built-in infrared lighting. AVIOTEC produces clear video footage even in darkness, overcast conditions and dim artificial light. Therefore, AVIOTEC can monitor stationery bus fleets and long-stay parking garages even beyond business hours.

The devices can be positioned for optimal visibility across a wide area and at angles to ensure there are no blind spots for fire safety monitoring. And they can be installed in undercover constructions outside thanks to their IP67 housing which protects the camera technology from frost and condensation, as well as from tampering and vandalism.

AVIOTEC’s high resolution footage helps to identify the cause of a fire with sharp, clear images to support fire investigations or insurance claims.

How AVIOTEC works

AVIOTEC’s pre-configured AI algorithms were trained using real footage to enable it to automatically identify real signs of fire and trigger an alarm within seconds. To prevent false alarms being activated, the algorithms were also trained using footage of harmless motion and events. This powerful technology continually monitors all possible fire-related events and instantly differentiates between real smoke and flames and factors which pose no fire risk. An entire premises is thus discreetly kept safe while minimizing unnecessary disruption of false alarms.

What’s more, the continual processing of captured video footage feeds AVIOTEC’s machine learning with visual data to continuously improve its capabilities and speed of fire detection. Trained personnel can also continually learn by analyzing the source of triggered alerts. This helps to identify any further system configuration needs – for even more precise monitoring in a specific application.

AVIOTEC’s advanced and adaptable technology exceeds the expectations of traditional video-based fire detection systems with its reliable and robust performance.

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