Fire protection systems and methods for the protection of sloped attic spaces

A fire protection system for a sloped attic space defined by a pair of sloped roof decks defining a ridge in between with a ceiling base extending between and below the sloping roof decks to define a pair of eaves equally spaced about the ridge to define a roof span, the system consisting of:

• a first plurality of sprinklers aligned below the ridge and coupled to a first branch line below and parallel to the ridge, each sprinkler of the first plurality of sprinklers having a frame defining an inlet, and an outlet with a passageway extending between the inlet and the outlet along a sprinkler axis, and a seal assembly supported within the outlet by a heat-responsive actuator that in the presence of a sufficient level of heat operates to release the seal assembly and permit a fluid to discharge from the outlet, each sprinkler of the first plurality of sprinklers including a deflector affixed to the frame of the sprinkler of the first plurality of sprinklers at a fixed distance from the outlet to generate a uniform spray pattern radially about the sprinkler and the sprinkler axis;
• and
• a second plurality of sprinklers different than the first plurality of sprinklers consisting of a first group of sprinklers and a second group of sprinklers, each of the first and second group of sprinklers being aligned in a row between the ridge and the eave parallel to the ridge, the first group of sprinklers coupled to a second branch line parallel to the first branch line and the second group of sprinklers coupled to a third branch line parallel to the first branch line, the first and the second group being spaced apart from one another equidistantly about the ridge, each sprinkler of the second plurality of sprinklers having a frame defining an inlet, and an outlet with a passageway extending between the inlet and the outlet along a sprinkler axis, and a seal assembly supported within the outlet by a heat-responsive actuator that in the presence of a sufficient level of heat operates to release the seal assembly and permit a fluid to discharge from the outlet, each sprinkler of the second plurality of sprinklers including a deflector affixed to the frame of the sprinkler of the second plurality of sprinklers at a fixed distance from the outlet to generate a spray from the sprinkler with a majority of the spray directed in a downslope direction from the ridge and toward one of the eaves,
• wherein the first plurality of sprinklers and the second plurality of sprinklers each providing a fluid density sufficient to define a roof span of protection of eighty feet (80 ft.), and
• wherein the sprinklers of the second plurality of sprinklers being located at a maximum upslope distance of up to twenty-seven feet from the eave.