Fire Protection of Heritage Structures: Use of a Portable Water Mist System under High-altitude Conditions

In order to verify the application of water mist on fire protection of the Potala Palace in Tibet and deepen the knowledge of its suppression mechanisms under high-altitude conditions, a series of experiments are performed with a portable water mist fire protection system and with diesel oil, gasoline and, in Lhasa, ghee as fuels. All of the experimental tests are conducted with and without multicomposition (MC) additives. The experimental results show that the MC additive can evidently improve the extinguishing efficiency of water mist for a diesel fire, but the gasoline fire is a little difficult to extinguish. The effects of high-altitude conditions on fire suppression are discussed.