Wineries
Hughes Associates, Inc. (HAI) has substantial expertise addressing the unique fire protection challenges of Winery projects. These projects often are constructed in rural areas with little or no fire protection infrastructure, such as fire department access and fire protection water supplies. More and more winery operations are being transferred from within structures to within caves. This transfer results in a change in cave characteristics from a low fuel load barrel storage use to an occupancy that can include a measurable fuel load with a dense occupant load.
Most building codes do not address fire protection and life safety requirements for wine cave occupancies. HAI has been successfully providing fire protection consulting and engineering services to the winery industry by developing creative solutions that meet the aesthetic and cost concerns of an owner, while providing an acceptable level of life safety for the building or fire official.
The Palmaz Family Winery, Napa, California includes all winery production within a four-level cave (below). The lowest level includes bottling, case good storage, employee areas, and effluent tanks. The two middle levels are predominantly utilized for barrel storage. The top level serves as the visitor area, predominantly including tasting rooms and office suites. HAI participated in the development of an overall fire protection master plan for the project, successfully negotiating the site fire protection requirements and interior fire protection requirements with the fire official.
The Rudd Estate Winery, Oakville, California, includes both a wine library and dining area within the cave (below). HAI assisted the Winery in the development of the fire protection features appropriate for the cave to accommodate the desired occupancies and successfully negotiated the project with the fire official.
For more information contact:
Bob Wheeler
rwheeler@haifire.com
925-314-7910 x21
