Taller and closer to each other – that is the future of buildings in Europe. The construction of high-rise buildings has become increasingly important to our society in recent years. Due to the large number of people residing in these buildings, the topic of fire safety of high-rise buildings is becoming more and more relevant. The main question is whether people are sufficiently protected and what fire protection measures are needed to ensure that protection.
Fire safety is a very important issue in the design, construction and operation of high-rise buildings. In order to achieve effective fire protection, synergy between all participants in the construction and investment process and then in the period of operation of the building is a basic condition. Among these participants are investors, architects, designers, builders, fire safety authorities, fire safety engineering companies, insurance companies, users, owners and managers. The role of designers and fire safety companies is extremely important, as they are the connecting link and observe the implementation of all necessary measures.
SYNCHRON-S, specialized in the field of fire safety, shares its experience in fire protection of high-rise buildings. The company is the leader of the Bulgarian market in the protection of high-rise buildings by means of new proven technologies for fire prevention.
Specifics in fire protection of high-rise buildings
In terms of fire safety, high-rise buildings have their own specific characteristics compared to other buildings and definitely a much higher risk of rapid fire development. Therefore, the fire safety of high-rise buildings should be approached holistically. Managing fire load and ignition sources, limiting fire spread, and finding ways that occupants can safely and quickly exit the building are among the critical factors in successful fire protection.
An additional risk is that the external façade can create a dominating role in fire spread with devastating consequences, especially when other fire safety elements are not designed to cope with such eventualities.
Statistics show that high-rise building fires on the facade and structure cause only 35% of the total number of fires, but leads to much more severe consequences – 84% of deaths, 79% of injuries and 83% of property damage.
A key element in building design which is used to minimise the risk of fire is compartmentation, or separating the building into fire compartments to stop fire transferring from one area to another. Another element is the selection of materials as well as other fire safety management practices to limit fire spreading both inside and outside the building. The highly flammable facades, for example, have the ability to spread fire from one part of the building to other areas very quickly.
Thick walls and fire-resistant coatings are used to divide a building into fireproof enclosed compartments, so that in case of fire, it spreads relatively slowly. In most cases, this measure is reliable, but when it does fail, the result can be catastrophic. For example, when pipelines or ducts of heating and other installations penetrate fire compartments – then the fire will use these channels literally as “highways” to go from one end of the building to another.
The question arises: What needs to be done so that there are no breakthroughs in fire protection? What are the fire risks in high-rise buildings and how can they be overcome?
Characteristics of high-rise buildings and associated fire hazards
The main goal of the fire protection of high-rise buildings is to achieve maximum safety for the people residing in the building, as well as to preserve the building’s structure. Fire protection must preserve the structural integrity of the building so as to provide a safe refuge for people until their evacuation.
Providing reliable fire protection is a serious challenge. High-rise buildings have specific characteristics and architectural-constructive features that are not found in traditional buildings. This means that for proper fire protection, it is necessary to carefully study the specific features of different types of high-rise buildings – office buildings, hotels, hospitals, dormitories, residential buildings, multi-purpose buildings, etc. Most often, high-rise buildings are characterized by the following:
- a large number of people in the building
- high average density of people per unit area
- a large number of floors
- a large amount of flammable materials
- different types of premises
- more time for evacuation
- more difficult fire control
- rapid spread of smoke and toxic gases, etc.
The rapid spread of smoke and toxic gases inside the building, both vertically and horizontally, is a factor that creates a high risk for people of gassing and suffocation. Statistics show that the released smoke represents 85% of the dangerous impact on people during a fire, the heat – only 10% and 5% – other factors.
A feature of high-rise buildings is the use of aluminium constructions and ventilated facades. The aluminium structure can lead to the rapid destruction of the building shell in case of fire (Fig. 1). The cause of such danger is also the ventilated facades, because of which the fire can spread very quickly. Ventilated facades usually contain aluminium composite panels (etalbond) (Fig. 1), glass panels or ceramic panels (Fig. 2). These materials are not resistant to heat and in the event of a fire, the consequences can be very adverse. Conditions are created for very rapid and uncontrollable spread of the fire vertically along the facade of the building (Fig. 3).
Another feature of high-rise buildings is the difficulty of evacuation due to long evacuation routes, blocked evacuation routes on high floors and the impossibility to access the fire escape stairs (Fig. 4).
High-rise buildings contain different types of premises such as offices, warehouses, kitchens, archives, shops, technical rooms, server rooms, parking lots, atriums, etc. Each of these premises presents a specific fire risk, and the whole building is covered by many and different fire hazards.
As a result of all these features of high-rise buildings, it can be concluded that the probability of fire occurrence is very high, and the damage from a possible fire can be very large. The risk to the stability of the building and the health of people is very high.
Conclusion
Measures are needed to significantly increase the fire safety of high-rise buildings. The complicated issues of high-rise building protection cannot be solved without specialized engineering solutions based on reliable fire safety technology and techniques. They are a critical factor in the success of high-rise fire protection and must be considered in building design.
Continued in Part 2
Contact details:
SYNCHRON-S Ltd.
Phone: + 359 2 944 14 04
E-mail: synchron-s@synchron-s.com
Website: www.synchron-s.com
