SRISAILAM

POWER PLANT FIRE

INCIDENT: KNOWLEDGE
OVER ASSUMPTIONS
Electrical Liasoning with Fire Risk

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 | OAKRIDGE HOLDINGS PAGE | 02

INCIDENT
According to initial reports, a short circuit at the underground hydroelectric power
station situated at Srisailam's dam left bank reportedly led to the fire.

PROBABLE IMMEDIATE CAUSES

Protection relay operation is delayed or failed during short circuit incident.
Improper relay settings or poor maintenance of protection relay might have
resulted in failure of protection relay operation.
Back up relay protection operation is also failed due to poor relay coordination.
Improper cable laying or bulking of cable will increase fire load and extinguishing
of fire will be impossible.
Non FRLS cables will generate high amount of smoke and fire is spread faster in
cables.
Fire retardant paint and material are not used at cable entry and exit points,
hence fire will spread to areas other than incident location.
Cable insulation is not checked during maintenance which might have resulted in
failure of insulation and result in short circuit.

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PAGE | 03 OAKRIDGE HOLDINGS |

PREVENTIONS:
Proper relay coordination studies to be carried out and implemented of relay
coordination studies regularly at site. Relay coordination to be reviewed during any
changes in electrical loads.
FRLS cables should be used for further installations.
Fire retardant paint and fire-retardant material packing to be done for all entry and
exit points of cable.
Cable laying should be as per design and addition of cables to be reviewed and if
necessary additional cable tray to be installed.
Cable insulation should be regularly monitored and cables need to be replaced
immediately if IR values of cables are less.

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PAGE | 04

LIFE SAFETY MEASURES

As per the details listed by media, root cause for the whole fire incident is a short
circuit between cables which resulted in dense smoke. Several people were trapped
and died because of asphyxiation.

As life safety is the foremost important thing to be considered in a system, various life
safety measures need to be taken seriously in these kinds of rare events.Some of
them are illustrated below-

Smoke Extraction system: Foremost reason for loss of human lives is the dense
smoke, which could have been well managed using an efficient Smoke extraction
system. Fresh air supply shall be cutoff immediately and smoke extraction system
shall come into picture.
Various simulations studies can be conducted through specialized softwares, to
understand the pattern and nature of smoke and accordingly ASET & RSET values can
be determined to ensure life safety in the plant.

Emergency evacuation plan: A detailed study for emergency evacuations needs to be

focused upon and regulating authorities should ensure incorporating the same.
Moreover, plant team should be well aware about the emergency evacuation.

Battery operated emergency lighting system- Battery operated emergency lighting

system is a common solution to the rescue efforts in the event of power outage.

Ready to use Oxygen cylinders in underground operation areas.

Well maintained Multiple Fire exit doors,

Fire training: Regular Adequate fire training of all employees needs to be ensured in
the event of any unpredictable event.

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 PAGE | 05

FIRE FIGHTING MEASURES

Had the Fire-fighting system been efficient & effective, this fire incident would have
been suppressed in the initial time itself. A fire curve needs to be understood well and
various fire fighting measures should be implemented in correlation.
We recommend the following solution to these kind of electrical fire incidents-
    
Cable cellar: A double action Water mist system is one of the most efficient
system in case of a fire inside a cable cellar.

Fire in a Substation area and Control room: In context with NBC-2016, section-
5.1.6, “For some special fire risk/essential applications CO2 may not be suitable
and alternative provisions shall be made”. As CO2 is highly toxic for humans, clean
agent-based Fire extinguishing system are highly recommended in the control
rooms. IS-15493 lists various clean agents with better values of LOAEL (lowest
observed adverse effect level). Minimum safety precautions (Inhibit switch & time
delay, egress in 30S, safety interlock etc) as listed in IS-15493 shall be ensured.

Fire inside an electrical Panel: Panel flooding system is one of the mandatory
requirements of NBC-2016, which extinguishes fire in its early stages. Panel
flooding can be done by CO2 or a clean agent.

Fireproof cable sealings: Fireproof sealings plays a vital role in limiting the fire &
smoke to only one region.
    
Fire alarm system: As a first line of defense, an adequate fire alarm system
should be installed in compliance with the building codes.

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PAGE | 06

EVACUATION IN CASE OF FIRE IS

MOSTLY DESIGNED WRONG IN
INDIA
We designed and evaluated most of India's IKEA stores for fire risk and evacuation planning with
most advanced scientific model and simulations.

The basic concept in the assessment of occupant safety in a building under fire
conditions is the determination of the time when occupants are able to safely escape
before hazardous conditions sets in. The  Available Safe Egress Time / Required Safe
Egress Time (ASET/RSET)  concept of fire safety assessment in performance based fire
safety engineering design has become widely used amongst fire safety engineering
practitioners, since its inception more than thirty years ago.

The three main elements we must know to define the ASET. (Maximum time to
evacuate) 
1. Visibility: Visibility not less than 5 m, for rooms/spaces ≤ 100 m2 Visibility not less
than 10 m, for rooms/spaces > 100 m2

2.  Heat Radiant: This accounts for cumulative exposure to  skin to radiant heat
(2nd degree burns) and to convective heat from air. (1.2 Cal/cm2)

3. Toxic Gases: This accounts for the cumulative effects of CO, O2 depletion and CO2
effects on respiration rate. (125 ppm for 5 mins exposure, 1200 ppm - instantaneous
death) FED<0.3

HOW DO WE DO IT?
It is done by two softwares in simultaneous operation -  CFD (ANSYS FLUENT)  for
smoke modelling, temperature modelling and  visibility  modelling. Then  FDS tools  are
used to determine the actual time required by the people with different gender,
weight, ability/disability etc. to evacuate the building.

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PAGE | 07

VISIBILITY MODELING IN CASE OF

FIRE

TEMPERATURE MODELING IN CASE

OF FIRE

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PAGE | 08

CARBON MONOXIDE MODELING IN

CASE OF FIRE

Still there are NO  scientific model adopted in NBC 2016 or, Indian
Standards.However NFPA 101 & related NFPAs provide us the path.

CRITICAL TIME STAMP

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