Certified Facility Manager (CFM) Practice Exam

What happens when a kitchen fire suppression system is activated?

1. It increases the ventilation

2. It alerts the fire department

3. It interrupts the supply of fuel

4. It automatically activates the sprinklers

The correct answer is: It interrupts the supply of fuel

When a kitchen fire suppression system is activated, it interrupts the supply of fuel to the fire. This is crucial because most kitchen fires are fueled by combustible materials such as grease, oil, or flames from cooking equipment. By cutting off the fuel supply, the system effectively starves the fire of what it needs to sustain itself, leading to a reduction in the fire's intensity and ultimately helping to extinguish it. In many kitchen fire suppression systems, this can be accomplished through mechanisms that shut off gas supplies to stoves or other cooking appliances and by utilizing foam or wet chemicals that coat the fuel source, preventing oxygen from feeding the fire. This quick response is essential in commercial kitchens where the risk of fire can escalate rapidly due to the high temperatures and flammable materials present. Other actions that might occur in response to a fire, such as activating sprinklers or increasing ventilation, are typically not part of a kitchen suppression system's immediate response. Most kitchen suppression systems are designed exclusively to handle cooking-related fires and may not involve alerting external services like the fire department directly, which is often a separate notification process.