Basic Operations Firefighter Certification Practice Exam

A dry sprinkler system is the standard choice for environments at risk of freezing temperatures. This system is specifically designed to prevent water from sitting in the pipes, which can lead to freezing and potential pipe bursts during cold weather. Instead of being filled with water, the pipes in a dry system are filled with pressurized air or nitrogen. When the heat from a fire activates the sprinkler head, the air pressure drops, allowing a valve to open and water from a storage tank or pump to fill the pipes and flow through the activated sprinkler heads.

Wet systems, on the other hand, contain water at all times, which makes them unsuitable for areas where freezing is a concern. A deluge system is primarily used in facilities where rapid fire suppression is essential, and it discharges water from multiple heads simultaneously but is not specifically focused on freezing conditions. Pre-action systems incorporate elements of both wet and dry systems, typically requiring a fire detection system to activate the water flow, but they still contain water in the pipes, making them less ideal in freezing scenarios compared to a dry system.