Fire Suppression. Commercial and industrial fire suppression solutions can contain or eliminate blazes with minimum damage to property

Modern technology can provide a number of relatively hi-tech fire suppression solutions which can deprive a fire of necessary conditions without damaging sensitive equipment within the area. Clean Agent Fire Suppression Systems react quickly to eliminate the fire, reduce the damage to equipment, and increase the safety of people in the fire area

By thoroughly flooding the area with a gaseous fire fighting agent, even obscured or hard to reach fires are quickly extinguished, usually long before they can be seen. After extinguishment, the agent is readily ventilated from the room along with any byproducts of the fire.

Unlike water, these fire fighting agents are non-conductive and non-corrosive, making them safe to use on and around live electrical equipment. There is no residue to cleanup, no lingering materials to slowly degrade equipment, and no need for an expensive "Disaster Recovery" process. Operations are brought back online and productive in a very short time. However, Halon fire suppression agents have recently been banned by international treaty as they deplete ozone, and new methods of fire suppression must be found.

An old idea revisited by modern science is that of water mist. Spraying microfine water droplets into the air can significantly affect the progress of a fire. Water mist fire extinguishers are already available, and various organisations exist to promote its use.

Recently, an even more advanced solution has appeared, a new liquid which is non conductive, prevents fires burning and breaks down in five minutes under normal conditions. Tyco Fire & Security of Boca Raton, Florida, US, has launched a fire suppression system called Sapphire that detects smoke and then spritzes the affected room with the liquid, which is known as Novec 1230.