Design of Fire Protection Systems for Tall Buildings

And
Problems in the light of Case study

Index
1.

Background of fires in Tall Buildings

2.

Characteristic of Tall Buildings

3.

Comparison between Low Rise and High Rise Buildings

4.

Design Of Fire Protection Systems in the light of Standards and

Codes

5.

Fire-Resistance-Rated Construction

6.

Fire Protection System

7.

Problems of Fire protection systems with WTC Case Study

8.

Conclusion

9.

References

10.

Appendices

Background of Fires in Tall Buildings

Recent collapse of tall building had a havoc effects and have made an all designers and building
engineers reconsider the potential dangers to the structures and the safety of the inhabitants. Now
fires in Tall buildings have become a prominent possible reason for collateral damage of both
life and finances. These structures pose an equal threat to the neighboring structures as well.
The only reason that designer didnt previously considered it as a potential threat was that
occurrence of these events are very less. But detailed studies after the WTC event have shown
immense levels of flaws in the fire protection systems of tall buildings. The recent examples of
fires resulting into complete collapse are the WTC 1, 2 and 7. Then the complete collapse of
Apartment Block in St. Petersburg, Russia in June 3.2002, then Jackson Street apartments in
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in Feb 8,2002. A list of collapses has been provided in the Appendix
2 of all the collapse that was seen in the past. The concept of fire proof construction is that the
despite the complete burnout of the structure, the structure must not collapse at any cost. For this
there are two steps that are taken by the standards and other implementation bodies. Firstly the
building should be resistant to fire for a certain level which about 3 hrs, this is done to safeguard
from the collapse of structure and secondly an effective fire protection system should be in place,
which is present for the purpose of detection, fire fighting and for effective evacuation of
inhabitants. At present the only International Building Code IBC 2006 solely has prescriptive fire
resistance construction regulations and bounds the designer to follow it for protection of
structure against fire. IBC is also supported by National Fire Protection Association and other
similar organization, which I have discussed in detail in later sections. The Approach of this

report would be very similar to the process involved in designing a fire resistant Tall building
with effective fire protection system.

Characteristic of Tall Buildings

As we are well aware of the processes through which the fire protection facility is brought into
commission, where the first phase is the analysis and requirement determination of the fire
protection, then the second is the design of these required systems, the third is the construction
and finally the maintenance and operations of these systems.
Before the commencement of the design phase of a fire protection system the first and foremost
step is to evaluate and analyze the building features and when does it become of detrimental to
design a prefect system. What are the different category of buildings and the types of
construction. The first and basic categorization is on the basis of number of stories, under which
the building which has more than 7 stories is declared as tall building. Then these tall building or
high rise building are subdivided into four property classes, where first is Apartment Buildings,
second being Hotels, Hospitals and other facilities that care for the sick and Office Buildings
being the third and fourth type.
On the other hand the discrimination is made on the basis of construction material. According to
National Fire Protection Association, (NFPA 220, 2006) there are two basic types of
construction: it either burns (combustible) or it does not (noncombustible). These types of
construction can be further broken down into five categories. Type I is fire-resistive construction
which majorly consists of materials such as precast concrete slabs, concrete columns and beams
in this type the structural members are designed to resist fire for about 3 -4 hours and have
sufficient fire resisting rating. Type II is Noncombustible, this type represents those building

having steel beams and girders, they are susceptible to steel deformation and resulting collapse
with less or no warning. Where as Type III is the ordinary construction, Type IV is the Heavy
Timber, Type V is Wood Frames but these structures are not used to make tall buildings and IBC
permits only Type I and Type II to be used.
Now the first problem that arises is that, at present all over the world fire regulations and
building codes through out the world using performance-based systems. These systems include
aspects like (David Scott, 2006) Calculation of fire size, means of detection and suppression,
smoke management fire initiation and development, means of escape, fire fighting facilities and
response, materials and their response to fire internal linings and finishes and etc. But the real
issue is that all these provide us the post fire situation and does not consider the collapse analysis
of the structure as a whole and elements as individuals. Where as the latest concept of induced
progressive collapse solves the major issues and now through these analysis techniques and
procedures we can simulate and calculate the failure pattern and forces due to fire loadings
which were not possible before. The progressive collapse analysis is now becoming the basis of
almost all codes that consider fire protections. The structural response is evaluated on the basis
of two aspects, firstly it is the dimensions of the facility, secondly and more importantly it is the
burning behavior of material. As mentioned before mainly there are two materials used in the
structures esp the high rise. These are concrete and steel.
The interaction between fires and structural element and then the consequent response of the
structure as whole is largely analyzed and affected by few aspects which includes burning
behavior of materials including the mass loss and energy release, then stages of fire development
and lastly interaction of fully developed fire. Covering these aspects briefly the burning behavior
of materials can be shown in the following equation. (James, FEMA)

 =
Where

Q= energy released per unit surface area of fuel

q= incident heat released per unit surface area of fuel
Lv= latent heat of vaporization

= Heat of combustion

Where as other aspects included stages of the fire development, these include initiation of fire
from single fuel object. The next stage is the transfer of smoke plumes heat energy into smoke
layer. Therefore the temperature and depth of these layers are increased. The layer produced till
now then starts to ignite the unburned material or fuel giving further rise to temperature.
Therefore it can be deduced that the fire is transfer through mainly two means the first is from
radiation of heat and the other is through the smoke layer that is created. This cycle is repeated
resulting into exponential increase in the temperature of fire. Then comes the stage of subsequent
pattern of burning of fuel, which subdivided by compartment size. The small compartments
unburned object normally catches fire simultaneously and this process is called Flashover.
Where as large compartments objects can fire in an order and sequence.
A fire is declared as fully developed when it acquires a steady state burning stage and the mass
loss is a constant with respect to time. The main reason for this state is the lack of ventilation or
the fuel type. According to the equation given above if the rate of burning with constant influx
heat exceeds the quantity that can be supported by available air, then under these conditions the
burning becomes ventilation controlled otherwise it is fuel controlled.

The case study of WTC 1 and WTC 2 shows that 3 GW fire could be supported by a flow of
1500000 cfm and which could have been supplied through openings in exterior wall and shaft
walls. Given that heat released per unit of oxygen is a relatively constant value of 13.1 kj/g for
common fuels, the air supply required to support fires. It is to be noted that every 1 MW of heat
resale rate consumes 76 g/s and there is 21% of oxygen which requires 0.24m3/s (500 cfm) of
ambient air.
As we are well aware of the fact that the fire resistance of the structure is deduced on the basis of
several aspects which include the loading on the structure, member types and dimensions and
finally and most importantly construction materials used. Fires in buildings induce geometric
(thermal expansion) and material effects (reduction in strength and stiffness) in structural
elements. There are two types of materials that need to be assessed for fire resistance, firstly steel
and secondly concrete. The mechanical and thermal properties of these materials are of
importance to assess the structural response. To assess these attributes test such as ASTM E119,
ASTM E1529, UL 1709 are performed and then later the results are translated into codes. The
response of steel structures is based on the deflection and deformation. The reason for this is that
when fire increases the temperature of the steel frame as a result the strength also decreases, this
gives rise to dangerous deformations, consequently the very basic structural properties of the
material such as modulus of elasticity changes which was considered constant in the design
phase and eventually the failure of facility is inevitable. So to analyze the structural response of
the structure we resort to structural mechanics analysis methods such as progressive collapse
analysis.

Comparison between Low Rise and High Rise Buildings

The level of danger in small buildings and high rise building, although much research has not be
done on this comparison, the reason for which is lack of data available and basic difference of
conception & design may make it incomparable. Where as a comprehensive research has been
made by Fire Analysis and Research Division at National Fire Protection Association. According
to which they have gather all the data available both high rise and non high rise buildings and
after the analysis of the data sample. They have come to a conclusion that during 1999-2002, an
average of 7.7%-11.6% apartment fire broke out in non high rise building, in the analysis one
assumption is considered which is that these apartments were occupied throughout the year and
the building consisted of 3 or more housing units. Whereas on the other hand in the very same
time period of In 1999-2002, the high-rise percentage of apartment fires was in the range of 810%.
The two percentages 7.7-11.6%(non high rise ) and 8-10% (high rise) are almost the same.
Therefore it cannot be declared that the fire risk in high rise building is lesser or higher when in
comparison to non high rise or apartment buildings.
Another estimate and analysis is made by U.S. Energy Information Administration which
calculate the fire risk on the basis of floor space which is represented by the percentage exposure
that is directly proportional to floor spaces in high rise buildings. Accroding to the the empirical
relationship developed by EIA the high rise share of exposure (floor space) for lodging, hotels is
7%-24.8% (considering 17.2%),for office buildings the figure ranges from 9.4-26.9% (middle
estimate 19.4%) and for health care facilities it is 15.7-37.4% with an average value of 28.1%.

After similar calculation, analysis and estimate it was suggested by John R. Hall, Jr. of National
Fire Protection Association that high-rise buildings are less risky than low-rise buildings
for office buildings. For hotels and motels and for hospitals and other facilities that care for the
sick, the risks appear comparable in high-rise and low-rise buildings.
Hence from all this discussion and research it can be concluded that evidence and ground cases
and their studies shows that the risk of fires does not directly links to the height or its being high
rise or non high rise. The risk of fire is mainly dependent on the purpose, usage and
serviceability of the structure and does independent to the no of floors.

Design Of Fire Protection Systems

in the light of
Standards and Codes
There are many standards and codes that dictate the design and planning of fire protection
systems. Through researching I have come to a conclusion that there are very few regulations
and standards that legally bound the designer to design keeping fire protection as the primary
basis of failure. In British standards unlike others the difference for fire protection is made on the
basis of the material of construction which is steel, for which British Standard EuroCode 3. Part
1-2: General rules Structural fire design is employed, then for composite or concrete
structures are based on BS EN 1994-1-2 Design of Composite Steel and Concrete Structures.
General Rules Structural Fire Design. Then other standards include BS 5950-8: Part 8: Code of

practice for fire resistant design. Where as on the other side the most prominent among these are
National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and then comes the International Code Council and
its International Building Codes IBC. Where as the there are many organizations that also
provide these guidelines and assistance to the design and regulation system. The organizations
with good implementation and impact include Health, Safety, and the Environment (HSE),
Health and Safety Executives, Royal Institute of British Architects and Society of Fire Protection
Engineers (SFPE) a professional association for fire protection engineering, E-5 committee,
ASTM International, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)The Building and
Fire Research Laboratory at NIST, Underwriters Laboratories (UL) which is a product-safety
testing and certification organization. The list of bodies and local regulatory organization is quite
extended. So for the time moment we have to restrict ourselves to only those which have the
highest impact value in the world and have a status of a regulatory body, which the builder of
facility is legally bound to follow.
The most widely used code around the world is the International Building Code IBC 2006. This
code is followed and used throughout the globe , in addition all the local or national codes that
are developed in the other country are derivative of the IBC 2006. Where as on the other hand in
the UK the BS 5950-8 Code of practice for fire resistant design is the most widely used. The
another reason apart from the extensive usage of the IBC 06 and BS 5950-8 that these are the
only codes available which has incorporated both aspects of fire protection system. It has
extensive restriction and bounding of design of structural member that is covered in the chapter 7
of the IBC 06 and Part 8 of the BS 5950 under the title of Fire-Resistance-Rated Construction.
This makes it the only code that bounds the designer to design every aspect according to fire
protection, without going to any other standard separately. Therefore the upcoming discussion

would be on the basis of two aspects of fire protection, firstly it would be using the codes for
protection of the building and structure which would employ the fire resisting construction of the
facility. Secondly the discussion would be on the fire protection system themselves. Then the
British standard has provided us with a design flow chart to follow as well which I have included
in the appendix 1. Where as there are many British Standards and Euro codes on fire protection
some of which are listed below which are acquired from the web portal of British Standards
Institution. These are
Fire detection and alarm systems:

BS 10999:2010
Specification for distress signal units for the fire and rescue service
BS 5839-1:2002+A2:2008
Fire detection and fire alarm systems for buildings. Code of practice for system design,
installation, commissioning and maintenance
BS 5839-8:2008
Fire detection and fire alarm systems for buildings. Code of practice for the design, installation,
commissioning and maintenance of voice alarm systems
PAS 79:2007
Fire risk assessment. Guidance and a recommended methodology
The bestselling guide gives a nine-step approach to fire risk assessment in buildings
Fire extinguishing/fighting equipment:
BS 336:2010
Specification for fire hose couplings and ancillary equipment
BS 5306:2009
Fire extinguishing installations and equipment on premises. Commissioning and maintenance of
portable fire extinguishers. Code of practice
BS 750:2006
Specification for underground fire hydrants and surface box frames and covers
BS EN 14339:2005
Underground fire hydrants

Design & fire safety:

BS 9999:2008
Code of practice for fire safety in the design, management and use of buildings

Fire sprinkler systems:

BS EN 12845+Amendment 1:2009
Fixed firefighting systems. Automatic sprinkler systems. Design, installation and maintenance

Fire testing:
BS 476-10:2009
Fire tests on building materials and structures. Guide to the principles, selection, role and
application of fire testing and their outputs

Fire-Resistance-Rated Construction
The first thing that is determined is the fire resistance rating of the key building elements for
which the test such as BS 476-10:2009 and ASTM E 119 is employed as the basic and
preliminary yard stick. On the other hand BS 10999:2010 , ASTM E1529 and UL 1709 are also
used for the reference and quality assurance. Whereas alternative methods to determine the fire
protection rating includes NFPA 252 or BS476 Part 21. Then materials required to be
noncombustible shall be tested in accordance with ASTM E 136, in addition with a surfacing not
more than 0.125 inch (3.18 mm) thick that has a flame spread index not greater than 50 when
tested in accordance with ASTM E 84 shall be acceptable as noncombustible materials. Then
under the section 705 of the IBC 06 we have to make a firewall, this is a wall which is fireresistance rated wall used to protect opening and contain fires to a certain area. These are
extended from the foundation to or through roofs. The material should be noncombustible and
they should be structurally stable so that under fire conditions the possible collapse of

construction but not the wall providing a safe exist duration to the inhabitants. The fire resistance
rating of fire wall is in the table below which is taken from IBC 2006 section 705.4

The codes bounds to have continuous from exterior wall to exterior wall and shall extend at least
18 inches (457 mm) beyond the exterior surface of exterior walls for Horizontal continuity and
for Vertical continuity. Fire walls shall extend from the foundation to a termination point at least
30 inches (762 mm) above both adjacent roofs.

Among the walls for fire protection then its the fire partitions, these are the wall which include
separation in housing units in the same building, sleeping units in hotels, corridor walls and
elevator lobby separation. The material must be used must be resistant for at least 1 hour. Next it
is the smoke barrier that needs to be build, a smoke barrier is a continuous membrane, either
vertical or horizontal, such as a wall, floor, or ceiling assembly, which is designed and
constructed to restrict the movement of smoke. A1-hour fire-resistance rating is required for
smoke barriers at minimum.
Then its the design of Fire-Resistant Joint Systems that is of major concern to the fire protection
of the structure. This includes joints between walls, floors, roofs and their assemblies. These
joints must comply with the requirements of either ASTM E 1966 or UL 2079.The fire resistant

joints in smoke barriers are of prime importance and it shall be tested in accordance with the
requirements of UL 2079 for air leakage.
The air leakage rate of the joint shall not exceed 5 cfm per lineal foot (0.00775 m3/slm ) of joint
at 0.30 inch (7.47 Pa ) of water for both the ambient temperature and elevated temperature tests.
One of the most important part of structural fire safety involves the description of fire resistance
of structural members, these members include columns, griders, trusses, beams and other force
bearing members and they all must comply to a the required fire resistance. For these members
in high rise building the codes bounds that the all members must have individually protected on
all sides for the full length with materials having the required fire-resistance rating. Then the
connection points and edges of lugs, brackets, rivets and bolt heads attached to structural
members shall be permitted to extend to within 1 inch (25 mm) of the surface of the fire
protection. The reinforcement of the concrete must also be protected but the stirrups and spiral
reinforcement ties are permitted to project not more than 0.5-inch (12.7 mm) into the protection.
Then it is to be noted that the fire protection is not required in bottom flange of lintels, shelf
angles and plates. Whereas the isolation systems used for the protection of earthquake must also
be fire protected and should have a sufficient fire resistance rating which comply with ASTM E119.
The section 715 of the IBC 2006 has a detailed standards on opening protections which the types
of assembly. The table below is the descriptive of all the contents in the standards regarding the
opening protections.

These were a few most important aspects of the fire protection of the structure itself, there are
several more aspects that are to be considered in the design of the fire resistant construction in
the code which include Ducts And Air Transfer Openings, Thermal- And Sound-Insulating
Materials, Fire-Resistance Requirements For Plaster. Lastly the code describes the procedure for
calculating the fire protection rating of certain material and in different combinations. Now we
will move towards the fire protection systems and how are they designed according to the codes
and standards.

IBC is one of the very few codes which dictate the dimensions and restrictions on the dimensions
of the key structural members with respect to the fire protection ratings. So we will discuss a few
most important members and the restrictions that are imposed under the IBC. All the tables
below are extracts from the International Building Codes. The minimum slab thickness is shown
in the table below. Which is self explanatory.

Then the next structural component is cover which is to be provided to the concrete.

Then we have to look into the dimensional restriction of the columns, where the IBC say to have
a restricted the dimensions to values indicated in the table below.

Fire Protection System

The IBC 2006 is in direct coherence with the International Fire Code, and all the sections and
clause related to fire protection in IBC 2006 are derivatives of International fire Codes. The first
aspect of the fire protection system would be the Automatic Sprinkler System. The positions of
the system are extensively prescribed in the code and these locations are categorized in groups of
occupancies and other aspects. The first group is Group-A and its sub-group is Group A-1 which
is defined as that occupancy where fire area exceeds 12000 square feet and there are more than
300 occupants and area contains a multiheater complex. There are many other groups which
include various and diverse conditions and specified buildings. The conclusion from this section
is that, we have to provide an automatic Sprinkler system in a high rise building. Now the issue
is what standards to follow in regards to the specification of sprinkler system. The system shall
be designed and installed in accordance to NFPA 13 sprinkler systems. Then the water supply
system must comply with the international plumbing codes as well, where the protection from
backflow must be provided. A very important aspect that can not be overseen in the high rise fir
protection system is the Secondary Water supply. A back up or secondary water supply is to be
designed hydraulically and the sprinkler demand and hose stream is calculated and is provided in
high-rise buildings in Seismic Design Category C, D, E or F. The secondary system sustenance
time should be greater than 30 min and the rest must be in coherence with NFPA 13.
Alarms should be connected to the automatic sprinkler system and these alarms must be audile
and should be activated on abnormal flow in the sprinkler system. They should be provided on
the exterior size of the buildings and the activation of sprinkler system should activate the
facilitys fire alarm system. It is detrimental that floor control values should be provided in Tall

Buildings. These values should be located at the point of connection to the riser on every floor in
tall building.
The Standpipe Systems is an integral part of the fire protection system and it becomes of
immense importance when it comes to high rise buildings as the fires are of massive and
normally sprinkler systems alone cannot handle the fire. The stand pipe must be selected and
installed in accordance to NFPA 14. According to which Class I system is used in high rise
buildings. Class I system is a system providing 21/2-inch (64 mm) hose connections to supply
water for use by fire departments and those trained in handling heavy fire streams. In the design
of standpipe system and its connections location is of key importance, the stand pipe hose is to
be provided in every floors stairway and should be provided at an intermediate floor level
landing. It should be on each side of the exit opening, at every exit passageway at entrance from
the exit passageway. It is also important to provide hose where the sprinklers are absent. Then
the cabinets having fire fighting equipment that are standpipes, fire extinguishers, hoses must be
visible at all times and should not be locked. In addition portable fire extinguisher should be
placed throughout the building at various locations so that any localized fire can be suppressed as
soon as possible.
Another aspect is fire alarm and detection system that needs to be catered as well. The alarm and
detection system must be in accordance to NFPA 72 and for tall buildings it must be connected
to the automatic sprinkler system along with automatic heat detection and automatic fire detector
which is basically smoke detector. The location of smoke detector is important, it should be
located in the main return air and in the main return air and exhaust air plenum of each airconditioning system having a capacity

Greater than 2,000 cubic feet per minute (cfm) (0.94 m3/s). Such detectors shall be located in a
serviceable area downstream of the last duct inlet and each connection to a vertical duct or riser
serving two or more stories from a return air duct or plenum of an air-conditioning system. In
Group R-1 and R-2 occupancies a listed smoke detector is allowed to be used in each return air
riser carrying not more than 5,000 cfm (2.4m3/s) and serving not
more than 10 air inlet openings.{IBC, 06}.
Then the operation of automatic fire detection and sprinklers water flow device is connected to
emergency voice and alarm communication system and the paging zones must be elevator
groups, exit stairways, each floor and areas of refuge. In addition a two-way communication
system must be established between the facility and fire department is of vital importance.
After the detection of smoke the next step is the controlling of smoke for which an effective
smoke control system is to be designed. This will assist the suppression of the fire. The smoke
control systems must be designed on the basis of stack effect, projected temperature effect of
fire, wind effect, HVAC systems efficiency, climate in the surrounding of the facility and lastly
duration of operation. While on the other hand the smoke control system includes firstly the
smoke barrier construction, where the openings and leakage areas must be monitored the
maximum allowable leakage areas ratios are given by IBC 06 in coherence with International
Fire Codes which is

The opening and the leakage areas must be safeguarded and well-protected by automaticclosing devices and other electro-mechanical systems. Where as the fire doors can be used to
protect the door openings.
Next measure for the smoke control protection are the systems that work on pressure
measurement, the codes say that the minimum pressure should be 0.00124 kPa in a fully
sprinkled facility. Where as the maximum pressure difference across the smoke is to be
calculated by the force applied by the smoke on the smoke barrier, the formula of which is as
under provided by the international fire code,

Lastly and most important is the fire command center and its working. This is the place where
the decisions in crisis situations are to be made and is very detrimental in the level of damage
that might be caused by the fires. For this we must comply to the National Fire Protection
Association NPFA 72.

According to which commands to have a emergency voice/alarm

communication system unit, a communication link with the fire department, operational
command over the elevators and auto locking doors. The command center must be in control of
all air handling systems, sprinkler values and water flows. The center must be in full possession

of the building plans, every aspect and details of the each floors, details and specifications of all
fire protection systems, status and locations of fire fighting equipments on each floor. Controls of
backup power supply and backup communication systems can be decisive nature for the
command center.

Problems of Fire protection systems

With
WTC Case Study

There are many issues and problems that are not foreseen while designing the facilities and need
to be focused on by the information from the case studies and analysis of the fire that have
actually occurred. Although there are very few fires observed in the tall building there are several
reasons which include the over protective designs and then secondly very few are taken up by
forensic engineers. But there are some case studies that offer extensive research to fire systems,
their failure and the performance of structures under fires. Extensive research has been done and
case studies have been compiled on the incidents that have occurred. The most prominent and
researched among these are NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology and its
committee on World Trade Center Investigation. The outcomes have been really helpful in
understanding the problems and rectifying them for other tall buildings. There are several issues
that are highlighted, the first and the foremost issue is that all standards and codes rely on the
results of tests that are preformed in the labs. The problem here is that these tests can not
simulate the same temperatures or conditions that are present in a real time fires. Neither do we
have enough data or even knowledge about the response of different materials which acts as

fuels under fire at different temperature. So the problem can be solved through establishment of
better testing procedure and better lab equipments.
On the other side the case studies made by the investigation team of Project 4 made under the
NIST World Trade Center Investigation have also highlighted some major issues that were faced
in case of fires in WTC 1, 2, 7. These issues related the minimum level of performance for active
fire protection systems, then they emphasized on the quantity and reliability of information to
first responder at fire and significance of command center in crisis situations. Then the study
focused on the data and information given by Fire Alarm Systems for the declaration of crisis
and response and other preventive measures which includes the evacuation and fire fighting.
Lastly the study accentuated on the survival of fire alarm system and other recording systems
So that later these data collecting systems can be recovered and the data analysis can help in a
more accurate case study. Therefore probability of future fires can be reduced.
Lets analyze what was the first major issue highlighted in the case study and its findings, It stated
that all Fire Sprinkler Systems design method for WTC 1, 2, and 7 was based on the occupancy
hazard fire control approach from NFPA 13. Light hazard was the occupancy classification for
water spray density which had a density of 0.1 gpm/ft2. Where as the area is 1500 ft2. It was also
found that almost all tall buildings have the same classification, which is danger and has proved
to be insufficient in strong fires. Then there was another assumption that proved to be wrong was
that the fires fuel was only ordinary office material so the system was designed accordingly.
As a result the recommendation said that the NFPA 13 should now reconsider the minimum
requirements and should also consider the threat profile, terrorism, prohibited activities and fuel
loads in the building, compartmentation, population in the building while designing thee

sprinkler systems and water spray density. The designer must consider these factors and should
design accordingly if not considering all may be a part in to his design.
Then another fault that was seen in the system was that the fire sprinkler system was automatic
for water from tank but for continuous operation they solely relied on manually operated pumps
as a result the whole system became manually operated and consequently making efficiency
lesser. Then again the fire alarms systems in WTC 1 and 2 were automatic but the activation of
notification devices was manual. Where as the smoke purge systems were manually activated.
All this shows that the coherence in the automation of the systems is very vital for maximum
efficiency. The case study also unveiled the danger of systems complete failure due to damage
at a single point. The report stated WTC 1, 2, and 7 fire sprinklers and standpipe systems were
vulnerable to single point failures as shown in the APPENDIX 3. Almost the same problem was
observed with the fire alarm system voice notification, fire warden telephones, and fire fighter
telephones that they all halted due to one place disconnection, as shown in Appendix 4.
The next issue that was observed was pertaining availability and reliability of information that
was reaching the Fire command Center and how did it respond to the emergency. At the WTC 1
there were numerous alarms that were registering fires in their zones but none of them was used
to show the status of the water supplys conditions. Then at WTC 1 the alarm systems showed
only those area that were on fires and had no other information what so ever. Then there was
system that could announce any information at a specific floor in the building. This show that
how even the most well designed building small mistakes can lead to chaos in both management
and life toll. Then another issue that was seen in the building as a whole and system as specific,
this was that no information or data about events and happenings inside the building was
available outside, eventually any one outside had any idea what was going on inside the build

and no accurate actions were possible to safeguard the loss. These systems which can transport
and communicate the information outside the building can be really helpful, so that the future
events in the fire can be projected more accurately and fire fighting and damage control can be
done effectively and strategically. Lastly the recommendation of the case study pointed out that
there alarm system and other backup systems provide valuable information about all events and
the response of the facility under fire. There were many hardware and systems installed for the
data collection under a fire situation but almost every system was damaged in the fire and no
information was available or recovered from the fire alarm system. Hence the Survivability of
alarm systems and data collection devices and the communication/ transmission of information
from within the building is very detrimental for fire fighting and forensic studies of the fires and
hence a lot of work is to be done in this field.

Conclusion
The reiterative process of learning from the mistakes and then using them to understand more
closely the principles that govern will carry on. The first priority for every designer must be the
safety of the life and should be protected at any cost. There are very few regulatory bodies and
standard that directs the designer to have a fire resistance construction. Many standards and
codes throughout the world are yet to have clauses for fire protection and this aspect has been
previously neglected but things have changed now, the trend is now heading towards
improvement and they should because our structures are getting higher and higher every day, so
shall the protection standards should. On the other hand there is immense work and research to
be done to make our fire protection systems effective and fire testing procedures more accurate.
Till we have the full confidence and grasp of the knowledge of fires and its interactions with the
facilities we must have an over protective system, the cost might be more but not more than
human life.

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Appendix 1
British Standards Institution (2008). BS 5950-8 Part 8: Code of practice for fire resistant design. UK:
British Standards Institution. ..

Appendix 2
Beitel, J. J. (2005). Historical Survey of Multi-Story Building Collapses Due to Fire. Hughes Associates, Inc

Appendix 3
Project 4: Investigation Team (2003). Active Fire Protection Systems Issues. New York, US: NIST World

Trade Center Investigation. 2-20.

Appendix 4
Project 4: Investigation Team (2003). Active Fire Protection Systems Issues. New York, US: NIST World
Trade Center Investigation. Pg 8.