MJW Performs Multiple Roles in Georgia-Pacific Fire Protection Project

MJW Consolidated fire protection, construction and engineering design teams are collaborating to provide Georgia-Pacific with a major upgrade of their fire protection pumps and fire water distribution system that will protect the company’s expanding Palatka, Fla., plant.

The project is the second phase of a fire protection upgrade that began with the installation of 5,000 feet of a new high-pressure fire water main and hydrants. For this phase, MJW’s fire protection crews will fabricate and install approximately 800 feet of 16-inch cement-lined ductile iron pipe connecting the fire water distribution system serving a large portion of the plant to two new diesel-driven, vertical turbine pumps installed in a new pump house.

To support the pump house atop a water retention pond, MJW is constructing foundations that include an intake ramp and a pit approximately 18 feet deep, 16 feet wide and 40 feet long. The floor and walls of the pit will be 12-inch thick concrete. Once the pit is complete, a second foundation will be installed upon which the pump house will sit. The construction portion of the project will require about 400 cubic yards of concrete, 20 tons of reinforcing steel and more than 1,000 cubic yards of fill. The new piping will be laid in a 10-feet deep ditch beneath the pond, connecting to the pumps capable of moving in excess of 5,000 gallons of water per minute under high pressure.

“This project requires a tremendous amount of coordination between our MJW teams, plant operators and other contractors performing work as part of the Georgia-Pacific’s investment in site,” said Richard Beckwith, MJW fire protection project manager. “We have a long history at this site and are looking forward to providing Georgia-Pacific with new fire protection capabilities to better protect their existing and new assets at this strategic production facility.”