Fire Prevention
What can I do to prevent fire ?
Fire prevention is the shared responsibility of all building occupants. Most fires can be prevented if everyone pays attention to fire safety.
Tips:
- Limit the use of flammable materials.
- Do not throw cigarette butts into waste baskets.
- Have waste collected regularly.
- Keep fire doors closed.
- Ensure that self-closing fire doors remain unobstructed.
- Keep evacuation routes and emergency exits clear of obstructions. Never use them as storage area.
- Know the location and use of available fire extinguishers.
- Close windows and doors when leaving your office and close water and gas taps.
- Switch off your computer at the end of your working day.
- Do not leave electrical equipment unattended when in use.
- Keep work areas free of electrical cords.
- Uncoil electrical cords when in use to avoid overheating.
- Safety signs can save your life, so keep them visible.
- Inform yourself about emergency evacuation routes.
- Keep emergency access routes clear
Compartmentation
The key to fire safety is prevention.
Fire safety is already taken into account in the design of a building. At the planning stage, architects will divide the building into separate fire compartments.
schematic representation of compartimentation
A fire compartment is a part of a building separated from the rest of the building by fire-resistant walls, floors, doors and ceilings. Buildings are divided into fire compartments to limit the risk of fire and to prevent the spread of fire and smoke. If a fire should occur in one compartment, it will be contained within this zone for a long time, thus protecting the rest of the building.
fire in one compartment
Fire Doors
Weak elements in fire compartments are openings such as doors, service ducts or wall openings for cables.. For fire compartments to be effective, such openings must be adequately protected.
The easiest method of maintaining compartmentation is to install fire-resistant doors.
Standard fire Doors
Fire doors are specially designed doors providing 30 minutes fire resistance. This means that behind a closed fire door, you are protected for at least 30 minutes. Fire doors have a quality label (for example BENOR) on the inside and a clearly visible identification label, as shown below. Fire doors should always be closed
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Self-closing fire doors
Self-closing fire doors are designed to close automatically after being opened. These doors can be opened in all circumstances using normal effort.
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Automatically closing fire doors
Fire doors are often propped open by means of wooden wedges, fire extinguishers etc. While this may be practical, for instance in a busy corridor, it is highly unwise.
In such situations, doors can be equipped with a magnetic door release system connected to the fire alarm. This system enables fire doors to be kept open under normal conditions: in the event of smoke or fire, the door’s closing mechanism is automatically activated.
Bear in mind that the best fire doors are useless if they are not closed during a fire!!
Fire resistance
The effectiveness of a compartment is determined by the fire resistance of all building components surrounding the compartment and / or assuring the stability of (a part of) the building.
The fire resistance of a building and its components is the time that construction elements can resist fire exposure.
In the building regulations, fire resistance (Rf or REI) is defined as the time during which a construction element simultaneously meets the following criteria: stability (R) / integrity (E) / thermal insulation (I). In the new European classification system, criteria can be combined or used separately. For example EI 30 for a construction element that provides integrity and thermal insulation for 30 minutes, but has no guaranteed stability.
A fire resistance of at least 30 minutes is required to obtain a fire resistance rating. The required fire resistance ratings for building components may differ depending on the height of the building and the function of the compartment.
Additional information