Improving the Fire Performance of Building Contents.
Improving the Fire Performance of Building Contents.
(549 K)
Bukowski, R. W.
Construction Specifier, Vol. 44, No. 2, 42-46, February
1991.
Keywords:
building materials; regulations; fire safety;
inspections; occupants
Abstract:
Fire codes traditionally have regulated only the
structural and finish materials used in buildings. Such
regulation was intended to limit the size of the fire,
first to the building of origin and later to smaller and
smaller portions of that building. In response to fires
in which many lives were lost, codes eventually were
designed to ensure protected paths of egress and
sufficient structural integrity to keep the building
standing, at least until the occupants were evacuated,
and hopefully long enough to allow suppression
activities. To a limited extent, these goals have been
realized in modern buildings. Today, structure fires
rarely spread beyond the floor of origin, much less
result in total collapse of the building (through smoke
and toxic gases still permeate most spaces of the
building). But the fire problem has not been solved.
