Passive Fire Protection: The Facts
by Jim Kerr
Passive fire protection is a system of design traits that minimize the risk of the spreading of a serious fire to various parts of a building. In most municipalities, building codes require a certain level of passive fire protection depending on the size, type and use of a building. This type of preventative fireproofing involves structural design components as well as fire resistant building materials. Unlike active fire protection that is employed once a fire has already started, the aim of this type of fire protection is prevention of the spread of fires within a building.
Passive fire protection is not only a collection of unrelated design features; but instead, it's a type of fireproofing which represents systematic groupings of design features, which when combined, work together to reduce the spread of fire through a building. Here are some key components of a fire protection
Structural Components: Compartmentalization is one key strategy. Compartmentalization involves building design elements that separate rooms from one another with space barriers in between. These design elements can slow the spread of a fire from one room to the next, and in so doing provides building occupants with additional time to exit the building. The slower a fire spreads through a building, the greater the ability minimize morbidity and mortality as well as building structural damage.
Protective Coatings : There are many different protective coatings available on the market nowadays which can be used in fire protection. Such coatings would include cable coatings for example. These are applied to electrical cables and other cables in order to protect them and insured them against fire. There are also several spray fireproofing materials commonly applied to steal and other structural components.
Fire-resistant Rated Walls : The use of fire-resistant building materials is also common in fire protection systems. Fire-resistant rated walls are designed to withstand the high temperatures of fires, and they also serve to segregate buildings so that if a fire collapse occurs, the adjacent building will be protected.
Fire-resistant Glass: There are two main types of fire-resistant glass typically used in windows or fire-doors within a building. The first type is intumescent glass. This is multi-layer glass that is designed to swell when heated, thus reducing heat transfer and reducing the risk of spreading a fire. Another type of fire-resistant glass contains wire mesh to achieve reduction in heat transfer.
Firestops and closures: Firestops and closures are designed to seal joints and openings in fire-resistant rated walls. In this way, a fire will not have a chance to escape the confines of the wall and spread to other parts of the building.
These components which have been mentioned above are some of the key components of a passive fire protection system. The primary goal is to protect not only the safety of building, but also that of the occupants. Such a system should also be able to minimize structural damage to a building in the event of a fire. Passive fire protection achieves this by maximizing the integrity of a building, so that if a fire does occur, the risk of it spreading and causing serious damage to life and property will be significantly reduced.
Jim Kerr is Owner of B.I.C.S. Fireproofing, a <a href="http://tinyurl.com/26rlf9l">Passive Fire Protection Company</a> located in Benoni, South Africa. They specialize in fire protection and fireproofing of buildings and equipment. To get more information, click on <a href="http://tinyurl.com/2dtstck">Passive Fire Protection</a>
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New Unique Article!
Title: Passive Fire Protection: The Facts
Author: Jim Kerr
Email: ian@syzygy-seo.co.za
Keywords: passive fire protection,fireproofing,fire resistant coatings,fire protection,buildings,fire
Word Count: 527
Category: Business
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