The materials from which your
premises are constructed may determine the speed with
You will need to consider whether
the standard of fire resistance and surface finishing in the
The following article give basic
information on how fire-resisting construction can
Causes of Fire: The
causes of various types of fire hazards are described in details:
• Electrical
hazards: Damaged wiring, Damaged plugs, Damp or wet wires, Overloaded
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Fire resistant |
• Friction hazards: Hot bearings,
Misaligned or broken machine parts, choking or
• process or operation-related
hazards: Cutting and welding operations, which use
• Storage hazards: Materials
stacked too high blocking sprinkler heads (need 18-inches
• Smoking hazards: Ignoring
"No Smoking" signs; Smoking around flammable or
Various types of Fire-resisting
construction:
The type and age of construction
are crucial factors to consider when assessing the adequacy
• Cavities and voids being
created, allowing the potential for the unseen spread of fire.
• Doors and hardware being worn
by age and movement being less likely to limit the
• Damaged or insufficient cavity
barriers in modular building construction (e.g.
• Breaches in fire compartment
walls, floors and ceilings created by the installation of
Where an escape route requires
the provision of fire resisting construction (e.g. dead end
• Doors (including access hatches
to cupboards, ducts and vertical shafts linking
• Where false ceilings are
provided, fire resistance should extend up to the floor slab
• Cavity barriers, fire stopping
and dampers in ducts are appropriately installed as
Fire resisting properties of common
building materials:
Fire resisting properties of
common building materials such as stone, brick, glass, steel and
a. Stone: stone is a bad
conductor of heat and it is also a non-combustible material;
b. Brick: Bricks are not
seriously affected until very high temperatures around 1200 oC to
c. Cast-iron: The material
files in to pieces when heated and suddenly cooled. Therefore,
d. Timber: Generally, the
structural elements made of timber ignite and get rapidly
e. Glass: The materials
are poor conductor of heat and its expansion due to heat is small.
f. Wrought-
iron: This
material is rarely used as structural as present. It behaves more or
g. Aluminium: Very good
conductor of heat, it possess poor fire resisting properties.
h. Asbestos
Cement: this
is non-combustible building material with low coefficient of
Characteristics of fire resisting
materials:
• The composition of the material
should be such that it does not become disintegrated
• The expansion of the material
due to heat should not be such that it leads to instability
• The contraction of the material
due to the sudden cooling with water after it has not
Fire Protection
System: The
system which protects a large area from fire by using
1. Automatic
sprinkler system: Most
reliable automatic means of fire fighting. It involves
2. Carbon
dioxide system: It
extinguishes fire by diluting flammable mixture of air and
3. Dry Chemical
system: This
system includes a supply of dry chemical, an excellent gas
4. Foam System: In this system,
the mechanical foam is formed by passing foam producing
5. Holon System:
This
indicates a specific family of chemicals which are produced by
6. Hydrant
system:
in this system, the hydrants are located at suitable points and they can
7. Water Spray
System:
The water spray system used for fire extinguish depends upon the
• Multi-fire system: water is
sprayed in high velocities
• Protective System: Fine water spray of low
discharge velocity
Some Construction Techniques of Fire resisting for Building:
Fire resisting wall
construction
The fire resistance of a wall or
floor is dependent on the quality of construction and
• Internal framed construction
wall, non-load bearing, consisting of 72mm x 37mm
• Internal framed construction,
non load- bearing, consisting of channel section steel
• Masonry cavity wall consisting
of solid bricks of clay, brick earth, shale, concrete or
Fire-resisting
floors
The fire resistance of floors
will depend on the existing floor construction as well as the type
Fire resisting
glazing
The most common type of
fire-resisting glazing is 6mm Georgian wired glazing, which is
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