Fire Safety in Building Design

Cheatsheet Content

### Building Design Principles - **Compartmentation:** Dividing a building into smaller fire-resisting compartments to limit fire spread. This includes fire-rated walls, floors, and doors. - **Means of Egress:** Ensuring clear and protected escape routes (e.g., stairwells, corridors) for occupants. This involves appropriate sizing, lighting, and signage. - **Separation Distances:** Maintaining adequate distances between buildings or hazardous areas within a building to prevent fire spread. - **Fire Load Management:** Designing spaces to minimize the amount of combustible materials, thereby reducing the potential intensity and duration of a fire. - **Access for Fire Services:** Providing clear access for fire brigades, including adequate turning radii, hardstanding, and access to fire-fighting equipment (e.g., hydrants, risers). - **Smoke Control Systems:** Implementing systems (e.g., natural ventilation, mechanical extraction) to manage smoke movement, which is a major cause of fatalities in fires. ### Materials Selection - **Non-combustible Materials:** Prioritizing materials that do not burn or contribute fuel to a fire (e.g., concrete, steel, gypsum plasterboard). - **Fire-Retardant Treated Materials:** Using materials that have been treated to reduce their flammability or rate of flame spread. - **Limited Combustibility:** Selecting materials that, while not entirely non-combustible, have very low heat release rates and do not significantly contribute to fire growth. - **Smoke and Toxicity Performance:** Choosing materials that produce minimal smoke and toxic gases when exposed to fire, as these are major hazards to occupants and firefighters. - **Flame Spread and Surface Burning Characteristics:** Evaluating how quickly flames spread across the surface of a material, often classified by standards like ASTM E84. - **Thermal Resistance/Insulation:** Materials that maintain their structural integrity and insulating properties under fire conditions (e.g., mineral wool, intumescent coatings). - **Structural Integrity under Fire:** Selecting materials (e.g., fire-rated steel, reinforced concrete) that can maintain their load-bearing capacity for a specified period during a fire, preventing premature collapse. ### Active vs. Passive Fire Protection - **Passive Fire Protection (PFP):** - **Definition:** Built-in components that prevent or slow fire spread without human intervention. - **Examples:** Fire-rated walls/doors, compartmentation, firestopping, intumescent paints, structural fire protection. - **Role:** Contain fire, protect escape routes, and maintain structural stability. - **Active Fire Protection (AFP):** - **Definition:** Systems that detect and respond to fire automatically or manually. - **Examples:** Sprinkler systems, fire alarms, smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, smoke ventilation systems. - **Role:** Detect fire early, suppress fire, alert occupants, and assist in evacuation. - **Interplay:** Effective fire safety relies on a synergistic approach combining both PFP and AFP. PFP buys time for AFP to activate and for occupants to evacuate.