Fire Safety Regulations for Protection to the Occupants of a Dwelling Place - Case Study Example

Fire Safety Report Building Regulations 2000 and Approved Document B 2007 7/27/2011 Name of Student: Student No: Name of Supervisor: 1.0 Introduction The aim of fire safety regulations is to ensure protection to the occupants of a dwelling place. Mr and Mrs Jones therefore, on planning to construct a new home, require a fire safety report in order to get approval from planning authorities. This is subject to them meeting the fire safety standards necessary in the modern building regulations. The Joneses are building a three bed roomed house estimated at 250m2, whose specifications are herewith attached together with the fire safety facilities present. 1.1 Floor Plans Of The House 1.2 General Guidelines When applying the principles of fire safety engineering to a dwelling, a number of factors have to be taken into account. These include the very possibility of a fire breaking out within that dwelling and how severe it is likely to be. In the event this should be established as likely, then an assessment of the capability of the building to resist fire and smoke must be done. Finally, an evaluation of the resultant danger residents of the building and surrounding areas face in the event of fire is done. This is followed by institution of practical measures that could be carried out to prevent outbreak of fire. These measures would include an assessment of the adequacy of means in place for fire prevention. The primary way to achieve this is to have a early fire warning system in place that automatically detects the presence of fire. This is accompanied by all standard means of escape, as well as facilities to control smoke and the rate of spread of the fire. Initially of course, materials used to construct the dwelling should be assessed for degree of resistance to fire and construction carried out in search a way as to facilitate containment not only internally, but also to adjoining structures. As far as possible, all standard measures of extinguishment or control should be present and ability to facilitate fire and rescue services. Most importantly is the availability of training for residents and staff in fire safety and prevention, regulation that enforces maintenance of these systems and adequate management. When contrasted with prescriptive codes and regulatory controls, an additional means of achieving design solutions that are safe from fire is through Fire Safety Engineering. This is due to the fact that methodologies associated with it reach higher levels of safety, by providing an chance to investigate the risk while at the same time, giving the architect and designer greater span for design. These fire-engineered solutions also, in most cases, reduce the expenditure of supplying an environment that is safe from fire (Grimwood, 2009). 2.0 Means of Warning and Escape Building Regulations 2000 requires that a building must be designed and constructed in such a way that there is satisfactory provision for early warning systems in the event of fire and sufficient means of escape from the building to other structures off the premises that are safe and accessible for use at all times. When looked at from the perspective of a fire protection Engineer, building design can be viewed from in two ways. The first is compliance with current regulation and the second is the level of safety one hopes to achieve. The safety goal demands that the time of evacuation (te) of each room of origin, should be much less than the time it takes for conditions to become untenable in the area (tf). Typical values of te and tf can be tabulated for the various levels of repression in the different areas. It is also necessary that the time to evacuate is less than that when the integrity of the structure is no more(ts). In other words; Te< < tf Te < < ts If one of the major goals of this exercise is that the collapse of the structure is untenable then; Ts = ∞ (Torero et al., 2002) The requirements for early warning and escape are deemed to have been met if there is sufficient means of giving warning of fire in the dwelling which means that smoke detectors should be installed in every room. The second factor is that there should be sufficient routes of escape from the fire and these routes are adequately protected from fire. On the ground floor of the dwelling as can be seen, there are numerous avenues of exit from the living room, dining room, utility room and hallway. However, the route of spread of fire from living to dining room is unimpeded. On the first floor, there is only one stairwell, and two verandas with no indication of a fire escape staircase on the outside. This should be added to provide an alternate route in case of fire upstairs. 3.0 Internal Fire Spread (Linings) The building regulations 2000 stipulate that in order to impede spread of fire within a building, the internal linings need to have some built-in fire resistance that impedes conduction of flame along its surface. Should it get ignited, the spread of heat through it should be reasonable under the circumstance. The internal linings referred to here are those that grace the interior walls, ceilings or any other structure that is found indoors. Choice of material can significantly impact on the spread of a fire even when it is not the source. This is very significant in circulation spaces where the linings may be the chief conductor of fire. The chief characteristics of fire resistant materials include the ability not to disintegrate when subjected to the heat produced by fire. There should be no expansion of the material due to heat and the structure should be stable. Ability to catch fire easily should be avoided. 4.0 Internal Fire Spread (Structure) The regulations state that a building will be constructed of such materials as will ensure that there is stability of structure at least for a while after a fire breaks out. Additionally a fire separating wall must be present between two adjoining houses. In order to resist the spread of fire within the building measures must be taken including but not limited to use of fire resistant material in construction as well as installation of the appropriated tools to suppress fire. Lastly, the design of the building should restrict uninhibited spread of fire and smoke. Steel framed concrete for example is a good conductor of heat and conducts heat away from hot spots into the main structure. Steel-reinforced concrete on the other hand, is a poor thermal conductor. Furthermore, fires can cause concrete to spall unlike steel. This is due to the latent moisture present in concrete that heat converts to steam. Hence, a substantial fire can corrode concrete until it collapses, but can only cause failure of steel structures if the temperatures are elevated to an extreme (911Research, 2010). To avoid the occurrence of fire within a building has taken many forms. The most aggressive means being the finding of methods of fire prevention or at least, containment. Mathematically put; Fire Resistance ≥ Fire Severity. To attain this outcome, the starting point should be a vigorous examination of both sides of the inequality (Goode G.M. 2004). The most important aspects to consider in terms of fire safety provisions include: escape routes and equipment which means addition of fire escapes on the first floor of the dwelling; fire alarms; emergency lighting; evacuation measures; equipment for fire-fighting including installing a sprinkler system in every room, and the presence of a fire extinguisher within the building and an accessible water source; isolating the fire; protection from fire through the internal partitions and fire doors between the house and garage, there should be a door which meets FD30S specifications, FD20 for all other doors; fire detection; fire records: disabled access and escape equipment; storage facilities for highly flammable substances; identifying sources of ignition; identifying flammable materials; fire drills and training. Smoke detectors should be installed in every bedroom as well as a centrally located point in the corridor. Since the design has two floors, a smoke detector needs to be installed on both floors. On the first floor, the detector should be placed near the stairwell. Compartmentalised interior walls helps to contain fire, with closed solid core doors and gypsum board partitions that are sixteen centimetres across. This will help to limit fire damage. Partitions should extend to the ceiling to prevent the spread of smoke and gases which proliferate the building through any HVAC ducts present and open doors. The foundation of fire safety is the fitting of a sprinkler system. Different structures require different fire protection features as set out in fire codes and standards. Neglecting to follow these standards is mostly attributed to an engineering failure or application of engineering method failure. A meticulous engineering evaluation needs to be done in order to choose the right type and performance featured sprinkler system to be fitted (SFPE, 2010). 5.0 External Fire Spread The regulations state that the external walls of a dwelling must sufficiently prevent spread of fire especially between buildings and across the walls in accordance with the height, use and position of the building. This should be true also for the roof. The external walls should have a low rate for heat release to prevent ignition or spread of fire. They could be constructed from stone, brick or concrete which are bad conductors of heat. Sandstone withstands moderate fire fairly well, and temperature of 1200-1300 degrees must be achieved to have an effect on brick. Concrete has the highest resistance to heat especially when reinforced with steel. Glass is also a poor heat conductor and expands only a little when heated. It tends to crack on cooling though. (Hasija, 2010). For this dwelling, brick or sandstone interspersed with glass windows and doors may suffice. The side of the building should have a restricted amount of unprotected area in order to inhibit thermal radiation. This depends on the distance between the wall and boundary. The roof should also be constructed in such a way as to resist spread of flames. A model such as is illustrated below could be used. 1: Fire Separating Wall System from footing to underside on non-combustible roof cladding. Source: BCA, V2 Figure 3.7.1.11 6.0 Access and Facilities for Fire Services The regulations state that a dwelling should be constructed in such a way to allow access of fire fighters in the event of fire in order to protect life. There should also be provision for equipment to be brought into the building for this purpose. These guidelines will have been deemed to have been followed if there are adequate exits to the building that facilitate entrance of fire appliances. The fire, door that is the one to the outside, must be side-hinged and at least 3” wide and 6’8” tall. All other doors do not need to meet these requirements but should all be openable from the inside without benefit of a key or other device. The total number of exits would depend on the occupancy load, with a minimum of two for each floor. With 50% more floors on the lower floor than the first. This means that since the upper floor would have two exits with addition of a fire escape and the stairwell, the lower floor should have three exits, which it does. These should also be able to facilitate the entrance of fire fighters to conduct search and rescue within the building and put out the fire. There must be sufficient facilities such as the sprinkler system, fire extinguishers and a water source in order to facilitate the work of the fire fighters. A means of egress is defined as a unbroken and unhindered conduit of movement from any point in the building to the outside. It consists of vertical and horizontal passageways, doorways, corridors, stairs, ramps, enclosures and intervening rooms.              References 9-11Research WTC7. 2010. Other Skyscraper Fires. Retrieved 25th July, 2011 from http://911research.wtc7.net/wtc/analysis/compare/fires.html Hasija, A. (2010). Fire Resistant Building Material. Retrieved 26th July, 2011 from www.GharExpert /Fire-Resistant-Building-Material_0.aspx.htm Goode G.M., (2004). Fire Protection of Structural Steel in High-Rise Buildings NIST GCR 04-872. U.S. Department of Commerce Technology Administration. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Building and Fire Research Laboratory .Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899-8600 J.L. Torero, J.G. Quintiere and T. Steinhaus. (2002). Fire Safety in High-rise Buildings; Lessons Learned from the WTC, Jahresfachtagung der Vereingung zur Forderrung des Deutschen Brandschutzez e. V., Dresden, Germany. SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering. (2010). National Fire Protection Association, pp. 3-367 - 3-380. Appendix I Document No. Title BS 476: Series Fire tests on building materials and structures. BS 5306: Part 1 Emergency lighting. Code of practice for the emergency lighting of premises. BS 5306: Part 2 Fire extinguishing installations and equipment on premises. Part 1. Hydrant systems, hose reels and foam inlets. BS 5306: Part 8 Fire extinguishing installations and equipment on premises. Part 2. Specification for sprinkler systems. BS 5499 Series Fire extinguishing installations and equipment on premises. Selection and installation of portable fire extinguishers. Code of practice BS 5839: Part 1 Graphical symbols and signs. Safety signs, including fire safety signs. Specification for geometric shapes, colours and layout BS 5839: Part 8 Fire detection and alarm systems - Code of practice for system design, installation, commissioning, and maintenance. BS 5839: Part 9 Fire detection and alarm systems - Code of practice for the design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of voice alarm systems BS 5588: Parts 0-12 Fire detection and alarm systems - Code of practice for the design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of emergency communication systems. BS 5588: Part 5 Fire precautions in the design, construction and use of buildings. Guide to fire safety codes of practice for particular premises/applications BS 5588: Part 8 Fire precautions in the design, construction and use of buildings. Access and facilities for fire-fighting. BS 5588: Part 12 Fire precautions in the design, construction and use of buildings. Code of practice for means of escape for disabled people. BS 7974: 2001 Fire precautions in the design, construction and use of buildings. Managing fire safety. Application of fire safety engineering principles to the design of buildings – Code of practice BS 9990 Code of practice for non-automatic fire-fighting systems in buildings Table 1: British Standards of Regulation Source: (McCarthy, 2010) Read More