RECO2030 Building Services for Health and Safety

Fire Services System – Part 1

Semester 2, 2018-19 Session

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Learning Outcomes
• To know:
– Fire engineering strategy in brief
– Tactics against fire in a building
– Ways to achieve fire safety in a building
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Fire Engineering Strategy

• As part of overall strategy for a building
• A risk based evaluation that considers:
– Building fabric and materials
– Building configuration (e.g. adequacy of escape
route)
– Operation of building services systems in fire
– Firefighters’ control in fire situation
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Fire Engineering Strategy

• Elements to consider (1/2):
– Fire compartmentation
– Automatic detector coverage
– Dealing with the hard-of-hearing
– Fire service access location
– Fire alarm panel locations
– Backup power supply arrangements
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Fire Engineering Strategy

• Elements to consider (2/2):
– Evacuation strategy – sequencing of
alarms; travelling time
– Interfaces of specific areas requiring
supplementary suppression systems
– Firefighters’ operating panel – allows
firefighters to control aspects of
building services systems (e.g. smoke
control during fire emergency)
– Smoke control systems – containment
(https://help.sbo.schneider-
and removal electric.com/topics/show.castle?id=107
68&locale=en-US&productversion=1.8 ,
accessed 28 Jan 2019)
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Tactics for Fire Safety

Occupants

Furniture Fittings

What to
protect?
Adjacent
Building
Buildings

Public
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Tactics for Fire Safety

• Objectives of fire safety:
– Reduce fire risk – minimise probability of occurance
– Life safety – minimise injury and casualties
– Life safety – minimise harm through property protection
(as below . . .)
– Property protection – minimise fire spread within
building
– Property protection – prevent building collapse
– Property protection – facilitate firefighting and rescue
– Property protection – minimise fire spread between
buildings
• How to achieve the objectives above?
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Tactics for Fire Safety

• How to achieve the objectives above:
– Reduce the possibility of fire / ignition
– Fire-proof design – fire resisting construction;
means of escape; means of access; etc.
– Auto-extinguishment system
– Fire safety management – maintenance; audit;
promotion and education; drill; etc.
• Stollard and Abrahams’ (1999) five tactics
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Tactics for Fire Safety

Stollard and
Abraham’s
five tactics
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Tactics for Fire Safety

Stollard and Abrahams’ (1999) five tactics

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Tactics for Fire Safety – Prevention

• Ensuring that fire does not start by:
– Prevention of ignition
– Limitation of the fuel
• Prevention of ignition:
– Sources of ignition – natural phenomena, human carelessness,
technological failure, deliberate fire-setting
– Housekeeping
– Maintenance
– Gas, electricity, electrical sockets
– Training and permit system
• Limitation of fuel:
– Controlling the amount of materials
– Building fabric – the main building materials used
– Building contents – storage
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Tactics for Fire Safety – Communication

• Following the sequence:
– Detection -> communication
– Systemic design from discovery of fire, information, to fire
safety management
• Detection:
– Identify fire by sight, sound, smell, heat, smoke, light,
movement
– Sight and movement - circulation areas (e.g. corridors)
designed for both normal and escape route to allow
passive surveillance
– Smoke – detect smoke particles from a fire; be situated at
the highest point in a space
– Heat detector is used where smoke detector is unreliable
due to dust particles (e.g. kitchen, boiler room)
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Tactics for Fire Safety – Communication

Ionisation smoke detectors are good general-purpose Optical smoke detectors respond particularly well to slow-
detectors which respond well to fast-burning (flaming) fires burning (smouldering) fires. They are widely used for life
and are widely used for property protection. protection.

Heat detector may be more appropriate than a smoke

detector where the environment is dirty or smoky
under normal conditions. It must be recognised,
however, that any heat detector will respond only
when a fire is well established and generating a high
heat output.
( http://www.apollo-fire.co.uk/training-support/faqs/how-do-
apollo-fire-detectors-work.aspx , accessed on 24 Jan 2013)
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Tactics for Fire Safety – Communication

• Communication:
– Alarm, and signs and fire notices
• Alarm:
– Both sight (i.e. flashing lights) and sound (i.e. ringing)
– Connected to smoke/heat detector
– Building with resident staffs, visitors, patients, or inmates, alarm
required to alert staff for pre-arranged evacuation
– Zoned evacuation
• Signs:
– Mark exits which are not part of the normal circulation
– Warning of hazards (e.g. radiation) – black with yellow
background; prohibit actions (e.g. no smoking)
– Red for fire equipment
– Fire notice to provide instruction / direction for evacuation
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Tactics for Fire Safety – Escape

• Design features:
– Time to escape < time fire spreads
– Controlling the fire spread
– Escape route not too long nor too complex
– Escape = circulation route
• Basic escape strategies:
– Egress – simple, direct escape from the building
– Refuge – the use of structural fire compartment to provide
a place of safety; especially for building that houses
disabled, chronically sick people
• General provisions include:
– Fire rated doors, protected lobbies, refuge floor, windows,
escape lighting, etc.
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Tactics for Fire Safety – Escape

• Stages of escape: Inner
– Stage 1 – escape from the room
room or area of fire origin Access
room
– Stage 2 – escape from the
compartment of origin by
the circulation route to a
final exit (i.e. a protected
stair or an adjoining
compartment of refuge)
– Stage 3 - escape from the
floor of origin to ground
level
– Stage 4 – final escape at the
ground level

(Stollard and Abrahams, 1999: p57)

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Tactics for Fire Safety – Escape

• Travel distance:
– In complex building, phased evacuation, first to a refuge
– Rely on structural fire precautions to restrict fire spreading
• Stage 1:
– More than one exit in large room
– Inner and access room – awareness of fire situation from inner room
• Stage 2:
– 2½ minutes to escape from compartment of origin!
– Alternative route of escape must be provided outside room of origin
– Tall building (> 10 floors) and deep basement need special attention
• Stage 3:
– Vertical escape that is protected from fire
– Phased arrival at protected area in large buildings
• Stage 4:
– Stairs should not all converge into one common area!
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Tactics for Fire Safety – Escape

Building use
classification
(Buildings Department, 2011: p7)
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Tactics for Fire Safety – Escape

(Buildings Department, 2011: pp37, 38, 66)
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Tactics for Fire Safety – Escape

(Buildings Department, 2011: pp37, 38, 64)

(6m)
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Tactics for Fire Safety – Escape

• Doors:
– Exit doors gives
access to an exit
route
– Exit route – path
leading to ultimate
place of safety
– Size and number of
door depend on
occupant capacity
(Buildings Department, 2011: p34)
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Tactics for Fire Safety – Containment

• Containment achieved through:
– Limitation of fire spread (heat dangerous to building structures)
– Limitation of smoke spread (smoke dangerous to occupants)
– Fire resistance of building elements
– Provisions of place/s of refuge
• Elements of buildings:
– Internal and external walls; external walls for protection among
buildings
– Floor and ceiling
– Requirements of integrity, stability, and insulation
• Fire containment:
– Fire protection among rooms
– “Compartment area” - the area of the floors of a building
contained within the external surfaces of a fire compartment.
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Tactics for Fire Safety – Containment

• Passive fire containment:
– “Measures to contain the spread of fire which are
always present and do not require the operation of
any form of mechanical device” (Stollard and
Abrahams, 1999: p.162)
– Concerns basic building structure, subdivision, and
envelope
– Structural protection – protection against heat
provided to structural elements
– Compartmentation – the resistance of fire and smoke
offered by subdivision (i.e. internal walls, doors, and
floors)
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Tactics for Fire Safety – Containment

• Passive fire containment:
– Small openings may
become fire channels
– Building services
ductworks’ penetrations
through walls and floors
– Fire stopping the openings
with intumescent
(swelling) and
endothermic (heat (Portman, 2014: p.141)

absorbing) materials
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Tactics for Fire Safety – Containment

• Fire spreading through
openings:

(Chien et al., 2013)

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Tactics for Fire Safety – Containment

(Buildings Department, 2011: p71 and p73)

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Tactics for Fire Safety – Containment

• Definitions of stability, integrity, and
insulation:
– Stability – ability to resist collapse as a result of
the heat from a fire whilst maintaining its
performance
– Integrity – ability to prevent the passage of flames
and hot gases and to prevent the occurrence of
flames on the unexposed side
– Insulation – ability to restrict the temperature rise
of the unexposed face to below specified levels
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Tactics for Fire Safety – Containment

(Buildings Department, 2011: p157 and p159)

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Tactics for Fire Safety – Containment

• Active fire containment:
– “Measures to contain the spread of fire which require
the operation of some form of mechanical device”
(Stollard and Abrahams, 1999: p.159), e.g. smoke
control; automatic fire extinguishment
– Pressurization – pressurized the protected areas;
maintain air pressure above surrounding rooms;
continuous or on-demand (i.e. only during fire)
provisions; must be compatible with existing air
handling systems
– Venting – allowing smoke to escape outside;
mechanical extraction; smoke curtains; need to supply
balancing inlet air; must be compatible with existing
air handling systems
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Tactics for Fire Safety – Containment

• Active fire containment:
– Pressurization of escape routes
– Pressure usually maintained at
25–50Pa; 3 possible methods . . .
– Plant disengaged but
automatically switched on in fire
– Plants run fully as part of
ventilation system
– Plants run at reduced capacity
but brought to full output in fire
(Hall and Greeno, 2017: p.687)
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Tactics for Fire Safety – Containment

• Active fire containment:
– Fire prevention in ventilation
system
– Voids made through structure must
be made good with suitable fire
stopping materials (=> as in Slide
24)
– But automatic fire dampers are
also required within ventilation
ducts
– This is to prevent smoke and fire (Hall and Greeno, 2017: p.685)
from spreading through the ducts!
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Tactics for Fire Safety – Containment

• Active fire containment:
– Fire dampers in ductwork
– Positioned to maintain
continuity of compartmentation
– Dampers can be activated by
fusible link in fire – link melts at
70oC to release the shutter
– Other type includes
electromagnet-activated shutter
which operates upon smoke
detection
(Hall and Greeno, 2017: p.686)
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Tactics for Fire Safety – Extinguishment

• Three principal methods of extinguishment:
– Manual fighting equipment
– Auto-suppression system
– Fire services
• Achieved through fire service installations (FSI):
– Extinguishing
– Giving warning
– Providing access to fight fire and facilitating
evacuation
– Provision of stand-by power supply
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Tactics for Fire Safety – Extinguishment

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Tactics for Fire Safety – Extinguishment

• Manual fighting equipment: Extinguishers
– Hand-held extinguishers – right number and kind
(e.g. CO2 for electrical switch room); positioned on
the escape routes; colour codes; training

(http://cherwellfiresafety.co.uk/firee
xtinguishercolourcodes.php ,
accessed 29 Jan 2013)
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Tactics for Fire Safety – Extinguishment

• Classification of fire - HK:
– Class A: Fires involving solid
materials (e.g. wood, paper,
textiles, rubber/plastics etc.)
=> Water, dry powder, foam
– Class B: Fires involving liquids
or liquefiable solids (e.g.
petroleum, solvents, oil, paint,
flammable gases)
=> CO2 gas, dry powder, foam
– Class C: Fires involving electrical
hazards, motor, and machinery
=> CO2 gas, dry powder (CIC 2013 Training materials)
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Tactics for Fire Safety – Extinguishment

• Manual fighting
equipment: Hose reels
– Also used by fire brigade
– Much more expensive to
install and maintain
– Hose length usually 30m
with water jet of 6m (so
furthest point served is
36m!)
– Minimum water flow rate
of 0.4 ltr/sec; design
should allow for minimum (http://www.hkfsd.gov.hk/eng/faq1_fs.html ,
use of three sets accessed 29 Jan 2013)
simultaneously
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Tactics for Fire Safety – Extinguishment

• Auto-suppression:
Sprinklers
– Effective in minimising life
and property loss
– Heads at 3m centres (i.e.
9m2 coverage)
– Heat-sensing bulb
fractures upon local
overheating (68oC) and
release water spray
– Water flow starts an (http://www.alibaba.com/product-
alarm; connect to fire gs/406773142/fire_sprinkler_water_system.html ,
accessed 29 Jan 2013)
brigade monitoring station
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Tactics for Fire Safety – Extinguishment

• Auto-suppression:
Sprinklers (cont’d)
– To extinguish small fire
or to contain growing
fires
– Various systems ranging
from wet, dry,
alternating, systems etc.
– Important components
in sprinkler installation –
main stop valves; water
motor alarm
(Chadderton, 2005: p342)
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Tactics for Fire Safety – Extinguishment

• Fire services: Wet hydrant riser
– A permanently charged rising
pipe
– Allows fire fighting within the
building
– For building taller than 3 storeys
– Water pressure is maintained by
in-house pump set
– Valved outlet at each floor
– Used by fire brigade
– Dry riser is possible but not
common in Hong Kong
(http://www.cvmitradinamis.com/dry-riser-systems-dry-
riser-valves.html , accessed 29 Jan 2013)
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Tactics for Fire Safety – Extinguishment

• Fire services: Access
– Stairs and fireman lift

(Buildings Department, 2011: p127 and p130)

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Tactics for Fire Safety – Extinguishment

• Fire services: Access
– Emergency vehicular access

(Buildings Department, 2011: p133 and p135)

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Selected References
• Buildings Department. (2011). Code of Practice for Fire Safety in Buildings. Hong
Kong SAR Government.
• Chadderton, D.V. (2004). Building Services Engineering, 4th ed. London: Spon
Press.
• Chien, H-L., Chi, J-H., and Wu, S-H. (2013). Hotel fire accident reconstruction based
on fire dynamics simulator (FDS). In: Proceedings of the International
MultiConference of Engineers and Computer Scientists Vol II, 13-15 March 2013,
Hong Kong.
• Hall, F. and Greeno, R. 2017. Building Services Handbook, 9th ed. London and New
York: Routledge.
• Portman, J. (2014). Building Services Design Management. West Sussex, UK: John
Wiley and Sons.
• Stollard, P. and Abrahams, J. (1999). Fire from First Principles: A Design Guide to
Building Fire Safety, 3rd ed. London: E&FN Spon.
• Janis, R.R. and Tao, W.K.Y. (2008). Mechanical and Electrical Systems in Buildings,
4th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ.: Pearson Prentice Hall.