The United States has the highest fire losses in terms of both frequency and total losses of any modern technological society. New facilities and renovation projects need to be designed to incorporate efficient, cost-effective passive and automatic fire protection systems. These systems are effective in detecting, containing, and controlling and/or extinguishing a fire event in the early stages. Fire protection engineers must be involved in all aspects of the design in order to ensure a reasonable degree of protection of human life from fire and the products of combustion as well as to reduce the potential loss from fire (i.e., real and personal property, information, organizational operations). Planning for fire protection in/around a building involves knowing the four sources of fire: natural, manmade, wildfire and incidental and taking an integrated systems approach that enables the designer to analyze all of the building’s components as a total building fire safety system package. The analysis requires more than code compliance or meeting the minimum legal responsibilities for protecting a building; that is, building and fire codes are intended to protect against loss of life and limit fire impact on the community and do not necessarily protect the mission or assets, or solve problems brought upon by new projects with unique circumstances. Therefore, it is necessary to creatively and efficiently integrate code requirements with other fire safety measures as well as other design strategies to achieve a balanced design that will provide the desired levels of safety (evacuation, recovery, egress/smoke. Identify critical systems: diesel generators, etc.)
The design of any fire-protection system is an exact science that takes into account a building’s use, occupancy, footprint, and even its other installed systems. Planning for fire protection involves an integrated approach in which system designers need to analyze building components as a total package
RECOMMENDATIONS
Issues to address in developing a successful fire protection design usually include:
Design Team—It is most important that the project delivery team include a Fire Protection Engineer with adequate experience and knowledge in fire protection and life safety design. The Fire Protection Engineer should be involved in all phases of design, from planning to occupancy. GSA and DoD require a licensed professional engineer on their projects.
Design Standards and Criteria (i.e., Building Code, etc.)—to be utilized by the design team, including statutory requirements, voluntary requirements addressing owner’s performance needs, and requirements that are sometimes imposed by insurance carriers on commercial projects.
Site Requirements—A quality site design will integrate performance requirements associated with fire department access, suppression, and separation distances and site/building security.
- Fire department access
- Design buildings with uncomplicated layouts that enable firefighters to locate an area quickly.
- Provide rapid access to various features such as fire department connections (FDCs), fire command center, fire alarm control equipment, fire pump room, hose valves, elevators and stairs, annunciators, key boxes, etc.
- Accommodate the access of fire apparatus into and around the building site
- Comply with local authorities having jurisdiction to accommodate the access of fire apparatus into and around the building site and to coordinate access control point layout.
- Fire hydrants
- Coordinate with security measures
Building Construction Requirements, at a minimum will address the following elements:
- Construction type, allowable height, and area
- Exposures/separation requirements
- Fire ratings, materials, and systems
- Occupancy types
- Interior finish
- Exit enclosure
Life Safety, at a minimum will address the following elements:
- Exit access paths
- Exit remoteness
- Exit discharge
- Areas of refuge
- Accessible exits
- Door locking arrangements (security interface)
- Occupancy
Fire Detection and Notification System Requirements, at a minimum will address the following elements:
- Detection
- Mass Notification
- Survivability of systems
- Alarm Notification and Fire
Fire Suppression Requirements, at a minimum will address the following elements:
- Water supply
- Type of automatic fire extinguishing system
- Water-based fire extinguishing system
- Non-water-based fire extinguishing system
- Standpipes and fire department hose outlets
- Non-water agents
Emergency Power, Lighting, and Exit Signage, at a minimum will address the following elements:
- Survivability of systems
- Electrical Safety
- Distributed Energy Resources
Special Fire Protection Requirements, at a minimum will address the following elements:
- Engineered smoke control systems
- Special hazard systems
- Fireproofing and firestopping
- Atrium spaces
- Mission critical facility needs