WHAT IS PASSIVE FIRE PROTECTION
The stability of a building in a fire depends upon the performance of all the component parts of the structure. Buildings are designed to keep products of combustion away from building occupants, allowing them time to escape safely. Regulations that govern the design of buildings also take into consideration the safety of firefighters who attend an incident. Thus, if a building is adequately protected, it should withstand a fire for a reasonable time, without collapse. Passive fire protection is the term applied to the components of a building that ensure it offers adequate fire performance. This may apply to the fire performance of the elements themselves or to the improvement in fire performance gained by the addition of specialised materials, products or systems. The level of fire resistance offered, or the reaction of the materials, to fire may have been known for centuries, or may be the result of the application of modern and novel technology but, as with all complex and dynamic structures, any weak links must be spotted if disaster is to be avoided.
Where is it used?
• Hi Rise Buildings
• Hotels
• Factories
• Historic buildings
• Hospitals
• Care homes
• Schools
• Supermarkets
• Tunnels
• Car Parks
• On-shore hydrocarbon
• Off-shore hydrocarbon
• Railways installations
Seven people have been killed and 11 seriously injured by a fire in a nine-storey hostel housing immigrants in the eastern French city of Dijon
