Tall racking
The gaps between pallets act like chimneys. Fire climbs them much faster than it spreads across the floor.
Industries we protectFire Protection for
Fire Protection for
Warehousing & Logistics
A warehouse fire spreads fast and is hard to get to. The racking is tall, the space is open, and the forklifts charge overnight. We design, install and look after the systems that catch a fire early — and deal with it before your stock goes.
Industry overview
Fire Safety in Warehouses and Distribution Centres
A warehouse holds a great deal that burns, in one tall open space, and most of the time nobody is standing in it. A fire that starts on the floor has racking to climb and very little in its way. By the time you can see it from outside, the stock has gone.
The other difficulty is height. Above roughly ten or twelve metres an ordinary ceiling detector is close to useless, because smoke cools and spreads out before it ever gets there. So detection in these buildings has to work across the volume rather than at the top of it, and sprinkler protection has to be sized against what is actually in the racks.
We design, install, commission and maintain fire systems across distribution centres, fulfilment and e-commerce centres, high-bay and automated warehouses, cold storage, third-party logistics sites, and the stores attached to factories.
- One contractor, start to finish Survey, design, supply, installation, commissioning and maintenance, all by us.
- Fitted around your shifts Phased aisle by aisle so the building keeps running while we work.
- Sized to what you actually store Sprinkler protection designed against the commodity and the racking, not the floor area.
- Paperwork for the NOC and your insurer Drawings, test records and handover documents both will accept.
Risk profile
Key Fire and Safety Considerations
The six points we look at most closely when we survey a storage site.
What you store
Packaging, plastics and aerosols burn hard — and on a 3PL site, what is in the racks changes with the contract.
Charging areas
Forklift chargers run hot for hours. Lithium-ion batteries can also fail in a way that is very hard to cool down.
Electrics
Panels, chargers and lighting sit high up or behind stock. A fault there is not seen and not heard.
Hard to reach
Aisles, mezzanines and roof voids take time to get to — and longer once the building is full of smoke.
Downtime
Losing a shift at a DC costs far more than the pallets on the floor. That is the real reason to pay for early warning.
Recommended solutions
Recommended Fire Protection Solutions
Most warehouses end up with a mix of the systems below. Which ones you actually need, and how much of each, comes out of the site visit — not off a list.
Addressable Fire Alarm Systems
The system everything else waits on — addressable panels, detectors and notification devices…
Solution detail
Optical Beam Smoke Detection Systems
Cover large, tall volumes with a single detector — for warehouses, atriums and production halls…
Solution detail
Aspirating Smoke Detection Systems
Detect the earliest signs of smoke with air-sampling technology built for critical…
Solution detail
Sprinkler and Deluge Systems
The layer that works with nobody present — wet, pre-action and deluge systems designed to your…
Solution detailLithium-ion Battery Safety Systems
Catch thermal runaway in the only window that matters — off-gas detection for battery rooms,…
Solution detail
Electrical Panel Fire Protection
Deal with the fire inside the cabinet, in the first seconds — tube-based suppression that needs…
Solution detailProducts & technologies
Products and Technologies We Supply
We supply and commission kit from the manufacturers we are partnered with. Each page below has that manufacturer's own product information and datasheets.
Simplex Fire Alarm & Detection Systems
Intelligent fire detection and alarm solutions for modern buildings — addressable control…
Product detail
FFE Fireray Optical Beam Detection
Beam smoke detection for large, tall volumes — one device covering what a grid of point…
Product detail
Xtralis OSID and FAAST Flex Detection
Open-area imaging detection for large volumes, plus compact aspirating detection for smaller…
Product detail
Xtralis VESDA Aspirating Smoke Detection
Very early warning air-sampling detection for server rooms, clean rooms and high-value assets —…
Product detail
Thermocable ProReact Linear Heat Detection
Heat-sensing cable that makes the whole run the detector — for conveyors, cable trays, tunnels…
Product detail
Firetrace Panel and Enclosure Suppression
Tube-based suppression that deals with the fire inside the cabinet, in the first seconds, with…
Product detailApplications by area
Protection by Warehouse Area
One answer does not cover the whole building. What works down a 14-metre aisle is the wrong thing at a loading door or in a charging bay.
Racking and aisles
Height is the problem here. Beam detection watches across the whole space, and sprinklers are sized for what is actually in the racks.
Loading docks and goods-in
Doors open, trucks moving, dust and draught. Detection has to cope with all of that without going off for nothing.
Charging areas
We treat this as its own zone — detection right by the chargers, the right kind of suppression for the battery, and distance from the stock.
Electrical and switch rooms
Detection inside the panel and suppression in the cabinet, so a fault is dealt with there rather than in the room.
Offices and mezzanines
Normal alarm, detection and sounders for the people working there, run off the same panel as the warehouse floor.
Control rooms and IT
The kit that runs the site. Usually air-sampling detection plus a suppression system that leaves nothing behind.
Our clients
Clients We Protect in This Sector
One approved logo is shown. A client only goes up here once they have agreed to it in writing, which is why this wall is shorter than our job list.
Our expertise
Our Areas of Expertise
The parts of a warehouse project that need the most care, and how we handle them.
Detection across tall, open volumes
Beam detection set up for the height you actually have, and aimed so racking and lighting runs do not sit in the path.
Sprinklers sized to what is in the racks
Storage protection is designed against the commodity and the rack configuration, not the floor area. Get that wrong and the system is decorative.
Charging areas treated separately
Detection close to the chargers, suppression that suits the battery, and separation from the stock. We do not fold this into the general floor design.
Protection inside the panel
In-panel detection and suppression so an electrical fault is dealt with in the enclosure instead of becoming a building fire.
Handover you can actually use
Drawings, zone plans, cause-and-effect and test records, written so your team and your insurer can both read them.
Keeping it working afterwards
Scheduled servicing and testing under an AMC, with a record of every visit and the same engineers coming back.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
The questions warehouse and logistics teams ask us first.
Still have a question?
Speak directly with one of our fire safety engineers.
Call +91 88795 33000How do you detect a fire in a tall warehouse?
Ordinary ceiling detectors stop being much use above roughly 10–12 metres, because the smoke cools and spreads out before it ever gets to them. The usual answer is beam detection: a beam is sent across the space, and anything in the way of it registers. If parts of the building are critical, or the airflow is awkward, we add air-sampling detection just for those areas.
Which rules apply in India?
Alarm and detection design follows IS 2189, and Part 4 of the National Building Code (NBC 2016) covers fire and life safety for the building itself. Sprinklers follow IS 15105. Storage and racking are usually also checked against the Tariff Advisory Committee's Fire Protection Manual, which is what most insurers go by. All of it feeds into what your state fire service looks at for the fire NOC.
Are sprinklers enough on their own?
Sprinklers deal with a fire once it is going. They are not an early warning. And in tall racking they only work properly if the design matches what is actually stored and how it is racked. Most sites add detection so they know about a problem well before a sprinkler head ever opens.
What should we do about forklift battery charging?
Treat charging as its own area rather than part of the floor. There is no single Indian standard for lithium-ion storage and charging yet, so the design follows the battery maker's guidance, what your insurer asks for, and international practice. In short: keep it away from the stock, detect early at the chargers, and use suppression that suits the battery.
Our stock changes with the contract. Does that matter?
Yes, a lot. Sprinkler protection in storage is designed around what is stored and how it is racked. A building set up for one kind of stock can be under-protected for another. If your mix has changed since the system went in, it is worth a review.
Can you install while we keep running?
Usually, yes. Most of the work is done aisle by aisle or zone by zone, around your shifts. We agree the order of work and any short shutdowns with you at design stage, not on the day.
Can we extend what we already have instead of replacing it?
Often you can. It depends on the panel you have, whether it has spare capacity, and whether the equipment is still supported. We check that on site before we propose anything.
Contact our industry experts
Request a Warehouse Site Assessment
Tell us what you store, how high you stack it and where you charge. One of our engineers will walk the building and come back with a system built around it.