Passive fire protection (PSP) is always working, and if that unfortunate day comes, it will be the first line of fire protection for your family, occupants and assets inside your building.
Through the use of collaborative fire protection systems such as fire resistant doors, walls and glass, fire suppressing materials and the compartmentation of fire, your facility’s passive fire protection can protect lives, possessions and the building itself.
The significant element of passive fire protection is its ability to form a shield or barrier, through the use of fire resistance walls, doors and windows, to contain or slow the spread of a fire within a building, allowing the occupants to escape safely.
Fire suppressing materials such as intumescent cable coatings and fire resistant tapes are implemented in parallel with fire barriers to maintain its fire resistance and decrease the spread of fire. Firestopping products are also used to limit spread of fire through open penetrations in fire walls such as electrical conduits, plumbing, pipes and ventilation systems.
Active fire protection harnesses some form of activity in order to successfully function in the event of a fire. Such actions include human operation of a fire extinguisher or fire hose and automated functions such as fire sprinklers and fire alarms. Automated active systems detect smoke or fire within a facility, and will alert occupants of the threat of fire. Fire hoses, sprinklers and extinguishers are used to slow the dissemination of fire until fire services can arrive.
Limit the spread of fire, protect your people.
However, unlike active fire protection systems such as sprinklers, fire hoses and fire alarms that require electric activation or a degree of motion, passive fire protection systems remain non-active in the event of a fire through the use of fire-resistant walls, doors, floors and glass. Exceptions to such criterion are fire dampers, intumescent products that swell when in action, and fire door closers that require open and shutting, thus movement, to function effectively. However, when installed and maintained properly all passive fire protection solutions work to keep fire from spreading through buildings and provide occupants safe escape routes.
Fire compartmentation is passive fire protection’s best friend. Simply put, fire barriers, fire walls and partitions and smoke barriers make up the functionality of fire compartmentation within your building. Fire barriers comprise f fire-rated resistance walls, floors and ceilings – generally made up of concrete, interlocking timber, gypsum or masonry materials. Such fire barriers are capable of reducing the spread of fire in a facility allowing occupants to escape safely.
Fire barrier walls, when built and maintained correctly, can remain standing even if the building collapses around them, providing occupants and assets fire safe protection against the effects of fire. While, fire barriers and fire-resistance rated walls and floors offer safe evacuation routes from smoke and fire threats.
Fire rated doors and windows are installed in openings of fire barriers to complete and uphold the fire-resistance effectiveness of your fire barrier. Doors, hardware such as hinges and screws, as well as door frames and jamb, collaborate to form a fire and smoke protective barrier. While fire rated glass and framing are tested, installed and form and maintain a piece of the fire protective barrier puzzle.
Keeping your structure in tact
Structural fire protection maintains crucial structural components, such as structural steel, beams and joinery, of your building, facility or structure from the elements of a fire. This is achieved with fireproofing substances such as endothermic materials like gypsum-based plasters and cementitious products, mineral wool wraps and insulation fireproof cladding and, spray-on thin-film intumescent coatings that guard your facility’s skeleton and maintain its structural integrity when exposed to fire.
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