Academic Building Fire Protection - Case Study Example

Academic Building Fire Protection Name & ID Course Name & Code Instructor’s Name 22nd February 2010 Internal Fire Spread Lining The materials for ceilings and walls can adversely affect the spread and growth of fire, even if it was not the first materials to be ignited. Linings in circulation spaces may contribute to fire spreads, and this rapid spread may prevent the occupants from escaping. Numerous factors influence fire spread and may include the rate in which the lining gives off heat and the ease of ignition. The major component in lining is the walls. Walls can be defined as any part of ceiling that slopes more than 700 and the surface of glazing. On the other hand, a ceiling shares the same definition with a wall but includes the underside of a gallery and the underside of the roof that is exposed to the room below. Walls and ceilings play a major role in determining the adverseness of the fire (BSI British Standards, 2008). The type of ceiling may define extent in which the fire can be hazardous. For example, a suspended ceiling can contribute to the overall fire resistance of assembly. Provide that the suspension incorporate redundant materials that could prevent the fire from spreading. Ceilings can determine the extent in which fire breakout can be controlled or avoided. This building that has numerous floors in which one roof makes the floor of anther roof. Thus, the ceiling should be strong enough to ensure that in the case of fire, the floor or ceiling can support furniture and other equipments in the building. This means the internal lining especially the ceiling should resist and to fire spread. Failure of the ceiling or roof may contribute to structural failure and may prevent fire fighters from fulfilling their roles while reducing the means of escape that can be utilised by occupants (BSI British Standards, 2008). Thus, the type of ceiling is diverse but the commonly used ceiling is that of concrete and such design usually resist fire. However, to improve its resistant nature, plastering using mortar or any other fire resistant material would greatly champion ignition and spread of fire. Moreover, the electrical wiring and any other connected should be built into the walling a wall that it cannot transmit fire into other parts of the building. The ground floor is the most sensitive part of the building. This is because fires can occur easily because of the kitchen, storage facility, and cleaning room (Communities and Local Government, 2007). Moreover, science laboratory is another main cause of numerous fire incidents. Thus, it is important to provide an effective and efficient fire safety plan that will ensure these two sectors are not the causative regions of the fire. Therefore, internal lining should be championed mostly in these two regions so that the fire cannot spread to other parts of the building. A famous saying states, “prevention is better than cure”, which in the case of kitchen and science laboratory means all people within these areas should ensure they employ fire consciousness views and provisions (BSI British Standards, 2008). The walls of the kitchen and science laboratory should be protected with the use of cement mortar while any woodwork should be painted with paints that are fire resistant. The walls are important in starting, preventing and extinguishing of fires. Even though the walls does not support the building (e.g. structural support), it is appropriate to ensure it stands for a long time before it collapses in case of fire. Thus, the walls should be covered with a material and paintings that resists fires. In this building, there are two specific walls, which are the main building wall and the compartment walls. The walls that enclose the building should prevent the fire from spreading outside or fire preventing inside. On the other hand, compartment walls should be able to resist fire from moving from one room to another. The material that has been used to construct the compartments defines the severity of the fire(BSI British Standards, 2008). The benefit o a building that as compartment walls is it prevents entire floors from complete destruction. Thus, the compartment walls should prevent the fire from spreading outside or enabling the fire from spreading inside. Moreover, other compartments within the building should have walls that are coated with cement mortar. However, for those parts that are build with wood or any other material that can easily catch and spread fire should be painted with fire retardant material. The characteristics of surface spread of flame and fire resistance are important qualities that should be associated with board materials. In those cases, the boards are of low qualities, fire resistance substances can either be added through impregnating in or attached to the board material. Generally, through fire risk assessment it is paramount to study the construction materials or boards relative to the speed at which the fire spreads and the contribution of the material or board to the development of the fire (Communities and Local Government, 2007). For example, utilising a building board that has a metal light alloy facing covers usually has a better capacity to prevent fires from spreading because the metal sheets will not burn. On the other hand, if the fillings inside the board are polyurethane foam, such foam easily decomposes cause of heat realising large amounts of flammable gases that can cause flashover in the building as the fire spreads through the flammable gas layer. In addition, the walls can be protected by the use of aluminium cladding. Aluminium cladding usually resists ignition and retards development of fire. Cladding also called siding may be used to refer to the application through covering one material with another with the aim of providing a layer or skin that is intended to control infiltration of fire or ignition, or sometimes used for aesthetic purposes. Thus, the cladding acts as a control element in case of fire. The aim of this control element is to prevent the entire building from ignition and subsequent destruction. Generally, cladding would ensure the academic building is protected against fire incidents (BSI British Standards, 2008). Internal Fire Spread Structure In designing the structure of any building, it is important to ensure in the case of fire that stability is maintained for a reasonable time. This means that a wall between two or more buildings should be designed and constructed so that it can prevent the spread of fires. Moreover, the sub-division of the building with fire resisting is paramount to ensure safeness of both the building and compartments. The fundamentals of fire spread structure protection is to ensure the building is resistant to collapse, fire penetration, and the transfer of excessive heat. The load-bearing element of structure should have a minimum standard of fire resistance so that the building can withstand failure of load bearing capacity (BSI British Standards, 2008). The benefit of ensuring structure of building is maintained includes minimising risks to the occupants, reduce general danger, and reduce the risk to fire fighters. Sub division of the building into compartments should include fire restriction strategies. This would prevent fire from spreading from one compartment to another. Such fire resistant compartments reduce rapid spread of fires, and reducing the chances of the fire been large (Communities and Local Government, 2007). The section in which compartments meet should be resistant to fire – fire stopping. Moreover, the compartment should be taken up until it meets the underside of the roof deck to ensure the entire process maintains the continuity of fire resistance. This is because if the fire penetrates a roof especially near a compartment wall, there are chances the fire could spread to the upper walls/rooms/floors. Cavities and other concealed spaces provide avenues for flame and smoke to spread. Thus, it is crucial to restrict the spread of both flame and smoke through cavities. To ensure that the cavities are made resistant, it is important to provide cavity barriers (BSI British Standards, 2008). Thus, cavity barriers should be provided on cavities edges that includes around openings e.g. door openings, and window. Moreover, cavity barriers should be included at the junction between compartment wall and external cavity wall. Furthermore, fire-separating elements can contribute towards the spread of smoke and fires. This means that consideration should be provided to the effect of services that may affect structural integrity of a building. For example, where electrical accessories are installed, it is important to provide for additional protection to maintain the integrity of the floor and wall. The pipes should be fire resistant while the space between the pipe and walls/compartments should completely be fire resistant. Moreover, the joints that exist between fire separating elements should be fire stopped. Furthermore, the fire stopping strategy should include minimising fire separating elements, reinforcing fire-stopping elements utilising sealing systems, and providing for proprietary fire stopping means. Some materials that can be used include intrumescent mastics, cement mortar, and gypsum-based plaster (Communities and Local Government, 2007). It is also important to protect concealed spas (cavities). This means that a factor that should be placed into consideration is preventing internal fire spread within the building is through controlling large voids within the given building. This is because fire can easily and quickly spread unnoticed through these large hidden cavities, for example, an open ceiling cavity that is found within a false ceiling. Thus, to prevent such fires, it is important to provide a form compartmentation of ceiling void be commissioned. This can be achieved through, for example, utilising fire retardant blankets that are then suspended starting from the upper side of the cavity/void, and spans downwards through the entire void/cavity space (BSI British Standards, 2008). The type of material that can be used as fire retardant blankets is rock wool mineral fibre. In such a way, a fire barrier is developed that provides some compartmentation and thus limits the spread of fire. The building has numerous pillars that support the building. These pillars should be designed and constructed in a way that it resist fire and can withstand the effect of fire for a longer time before collapsing. This could provide a convenient time for both fire fighters and inhabitants to evacuate from the building. Thus, the pillars should be constructed of material that cannot easily ignite or can radiate heat. Moreover, the building pillars should be protected with the help of fire retardant coating, located inside the wall, and away from risks associated with physical shocks (Communities and Local Government, 2007). External fire spread Designing and construction of buildings should provide means in which fires and smoke can be controlled in view of external fire spread. This means that the external walls should adequately resist the spread of fire from one building to another, and over the walls. This brings into consideration the position, use and height of the building. The roof plays a major role and thus the roof of the building should adequately resist spread of fire bringing into consideration the position and use of the building. Buildings should have adequate fire resistance that prevents fire spreading across the relevant boundaries (BSI British Standards, 2008). Thus, the size, height and use of the building determine the type of fire resistance that can be used. The building in question is within the campus environment, which means that additional buildings, resources, and population can easily be affected if the fire spreads beyond the building. Moreover, preventing external fire spread may reduce adversity of the fire incident and can be controlled easily (Communities and Local Government, 2007). In the case of the drawings, external fire spread protection strategies are important. From the ground floor to the third floor, the same fire protection strategy will be used. A thick layer of mortar will be plastered inside and outside walls of the building. The red lining in second Floor drawing indicates this. The second floor is used as an example in which other walls will be protected. The basement wall will be protected from inside through the use of mortar based fire resistant materials. The service tunnel i.e. the lifts, stairs, and air conditioner should be protected from fire through the use of fire resistant blankets. Additionally, all holes and openings should be stopped to prevent smoke and flame from sipping through; if such strategy is not taken into, consideration may result in complete destruction of the building (BSI British Standards, 2008). Different strategies exists that can be used to prevent and avoid external fire spread. The walls of the building should be built with materials that are fire resistant. This means that both internal and external part of the building perimeter walls should be able to withstand fire incidents. Thus, the internal part of the external wall should be plastered with material that is fire resistant. The outside part of wall should be constructed with material that is resistant or retards development of fire. Furthermore, the building external walls should be clean e.g. no papers or material that can either start fire or be fuel. Cleanliness, tidiness, and maintenance of a building goes a long way in ensuring external fire spread is controlled. The design of the building does not only prevent the spread of fire, but it requires adequate strategies and means that ensures fire cant spread easily to the next buildings because of debris between the buildings (Communities and Local Government, 2007). Therefore, after construction of the building, the landscape should be maintained, ensuring no weak points exist that can make the fire spread. This is because sometimes the building can be weak and fire can spread externally, and the debris can make the fire spread to another building; hence, ensuring the building is clean is a good way of preventing or avoiding spread of fire (BSI British Standards, 2008). The external walls of the academic building should be constructed with a material that either reduces or prevents the risk of ignition from any source that is external, and the spread of fire over such surfaces should be minimal or limited. Furthermore, the number and amount of unprotected openings that are found on the walls of the building should be limited so as to enable reduction of amount of thermal radiation that may pass through the building wall and affect other adjacent buildings (Communities and Local Government, 2007). When utilising this strategy, the distance that exists between the boundary, the wall and adjacent building should be accounted. Designing and construction of roofs should place into consideration risk of spread of flame or/and fire penetration either into the building or outside from the building (external fire spread). Generally, the roof should withstand fire overflow, and also should be structurally stable in case of fire. References BSI British Standards. 2008. Code of Practice for Fire Safety in the Design, Management, and use of Buildings – BS 9999: 2008. London: Stationary Office. Communities and Local Government. (2007). Fire Safety: Approved Document B – Volume – Buildings other than Dwellinghouses. London: Stationary Office. Read More