ADVANCED BUILDING

SERVICES II
 LECTURE 1

FIRE SAFETY IN BUILDINGS

 FIRE SAFETY
Technical interpretation of fire safety is to convey
the fire resistance of buildings in terms of hours
when subjected to a fire of known intensity
 FIRE SAFETY:
Causes of Fire in a Building
• A building's fire risk is classified according to it’s
occupancy and use
• Use of building materials, Combustibility
• Processes in building- Activities
• Building design, planning, spacing
• Ventilation
• Activity and behavior of people
• Substandard quality of work
 FIRE SAFETY: Fire Extinguisher
• Fire is supported by three essential ingrediants
– Fuel
– Heat
– Oxygen
• The absence of any of these causes an
established fire to be extinguished
 FIRE SAFETY:
Impacts of Building Fire
• Smoke contains hot and unpleasant fumes,
which can be lethal when produced from
certain chemicals and plastics
• Visual obstruction makes escape hazardous
and familiar routes become confused
• Packaging materials, timber, plastics, L. P. G,
liquid chemicals, faulty electrification work as
usual causes.
 Spread of Fire in Buildings
• Loss of life in fires is mainly due to smoke and
hot gases being inhaled by occupants before
actual flames have developed to a serious degree
within the room concerned.
• Smoke and hot gases spread through doorways
and ventilators which are normally impossible to
keep closed
 LECTURE 2

FIRE SAFETY IN BUILDINGS

 Fire Safety Design
• The essential requirements for fire safety design
are
– The flame, smoke and hot gases should not
spread so rapidly as to give the occupants
insufficient time to escape
– Should a fire occur, the construction should not
further tend to spread the fire
Reducing the Spread of Fire in Buildings
• To reduce spread of fire, it is necessary that
a) The fire should not spread rapidly from one room
to another through the floors, partitions between
rooms, and particularly between rooms and
passages and staircases, that is, the structural
elements should have adequate fire resistance
b) The materials which are exposed to possible
ignition, that is, wall and ceiling linings should
not easily ignite, nor should the fire spread
rapidly over the surface of the materials
 Concept of Fire Load
• Is the amount of Heat in Kilocalories which
is liberated per square metre of floor area of
a compartment by the combustion of the
contents of the building and any combustible
parts of the building itself
• This amount of heat is used as the basis for
classification of occupancies
 Concept of Fire Load
• The fire load is determined by multiplying the
weight of all combustible materials by their calorific
values and dividing the figure by the floor area
under consideration
o A bare room with no furnishings or items present and
concrete walls will have a fire loading of nearly zero.

• Different materials having the same weight and

same calorific value may present different hazards
on account of their other properties such as ease of
ignition, speed of burning, and liberation of heat
and fumes
 Concept of Fire Load
• Thus some materials are more readily ignited
than others, some burn more rapidly than
others, some materials when heated on fire
liberate dangerous fumes and some may readily
cause ignition of other materials
 Concept of Fire Load
• The contents of a building are rarely distributed
uniformly over the whole floor area
• It is undesirable to have all combustible material
concentrated on a fraction of floor area. Thus
the average taken over the whole area will not
give true picture of actual conditions
• Average fire load need not always give true
picture about combustibility of immediate
surroundings
FIRE SAFETY IN BUILDINGS

Classification of Fire
Buildings are classified according to Use
or Character of Occupancy Groups

• A- Residential • F- Mercantile
• B- Educational • G- Industrial
• C- Institutional • H- Storage
• D- Assembly • J- Hazardous
• E- Business
 Group A- Residential

• A1: Lodging Houses

• A2: One or two family private dwellings
• A3: Dormitories
• A4: Apartment Houses
• A5: Hotels
 B- Educational, C- Institutional

• B: Any building used for Schools, Colleges, day

care; assembly for instruction, education or
recreation etc.
• C1: Hospitals, Sanatoria
• C2: Custodial (aged homes, Orphanages)
• C3: Penal & Mental Institutions
 D- Assembly Institutions

• Where group of people congregate:

amusement, recreation, social, religious,
patriotic, civil, travel, theatres, auditoria,
exhibition halls, museums, gymnasiums,
restaurants, dance halls, club rooms, passenger
terminals, stadiums etc..
 D- Assembly Institutions
• D1: Primarily theatres over 1000 people
• D2: Theatres like, less than 1000 people
• D3: Lobbies, assembly areas, dance halls, clubs,
libraries, educational or lecture presentations
over 300 persons and spaces used for less than
8 hours per week
• D4: Any building type of D3. Sub group of
uses but up to 300 persons
• D5: Places of outdoor assembly: Circus,
stadiums, parks etc
 E- Business Buildings

• Accounts, records, banks, professional service,

court halls, town halls etc related to public
transactions
• E1: Offices, banks, professional offices etc
• E2: Labs, research areas, test houses
• E3: Computer installations
 F- Mercantile Buildings

• Shops, stores, markets, display and sales either

whole sale or retail buildings
• F1: Shops, stores, markets, with an area of up to
500 sq mts
• F2: Underground shopping area, department
stores with area more than 500 sq mts
 G- Industrial Buildings

• Fabrication and assembling areas,

manufacturing, dry cleaning plants, power and
gas plants, refineries, diaries, mills etc.
• Degree of hazard should be based on relative
danger of start and spread of fire, the danger
of smoke, or gases generated, danger of
explosion, potential of endangering lives, and
safety of buildings
 G- Industrial Buildings

• G1: Contents of low combustibility, with no

possibility of self propagating fire, danger to
life, property, panic, fumes, smoke or fire from
external sources
• G2: Contents liable to give rise to a fire that
may burn with extreme rapidity and give off
considerable volume of smoke, but without the
fear of Toxic fumes or explosions.
 G- Industrial Buildings

• G3: Any building in which the contents or

processes or operations conducted are liable to
give rise to a fire which will burn with extreme
rapidity, or from which poisonous fumes,
explosions are to be feared in the event of a fire
 H- Storage Buildings

• Include servicing, processing, repairs and goods

of merchandise except those involving highly
combustible or explosive products. Storage of
vehicles, animals, ware houses, cold storages,
freight depots, transit sheds, truck and marine
terminals, hangars, barns and stables etc.
 J- Hazardous Buildings

• Contents combustible with extreme rapidity

• Producing poisonous fumes, explosions, involving
highly corrosive, toxic, noxious, acids or chemicals
etc
• J1: Storage under pressure of 0.1 N/sqmm of over
70 cubic mts of acetylene, hydrogen, illuminating
and natural gases, ammonia, chlorine, phosgene,
sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide, methyl oxide, and
all gases subject to explosion fumes etc
 J- Hazardous Buildings

• J2: Storage and handling of hazardous and

highly flammable liquids, rocket propellants etc.
• J3: Highly flammable or explosive materials
other than liquids
• J4: Manufacture of artificial flowers, synthetic
leather, ammunition, explosives and fire works
 Fire Load of Buildings
Building Type Fire Load Density (expressed as wood
equivalent kilograms per square meter)
1 Residential (A1-A2) 25
2 Residential (A3-A5) 25
3 Institutional and Educational (B & C) 25
4 Assembly (D) 25-50
5 Business (E) 25-50
6 Mercantile (F) Up to 250
7 Industrial (G) Up to 150
8 Storage and Hazardous (H & J ) Up to 500
 Fire Classification

• A- Wood, textiles-----------water by cooling

• B- Petroleum----------------exclude oxygen
• C- Gases---------------------exclude oxygen
• D- Flammable metals------exclude oxygen
• E- Electrical-----------------Exclude oxygen, Non
conducting
 LECTURE 3

FIRE SAFETY IN BUILDINGS

Details of Construction
 Terminology: Fire Resistance

• Fire Resistance: Ability of an element of

building construction, component for structure
to fulfill, for a stated period of time,
 thermal response
 structural response
 fire integrity
or other expected duty in a standard fire resistance
test.
 Fire Separation

The distance in metres measured from any other

building on the site, or from other site or from the
opposite side of street or other public space to
the building for the purpose of preventing the
spread of fire.
 Fire Resisting Wall

• The wall either load bearing or non load bearing

capable of specifying the criteria of fire
resistance with respect to
 Collapse(structural response)
 Penetration(fire integrity)
 excessive temperature rise(thermal response)
 Separating Wall

• The wall provides complete separation of one

building from another or part of the same
building to prevent any communication of
fire or any access or heat transmission to wall
itself which may cause or assist in the
combustion of materials of the side opposite to
that portion which may be on fire.
Separating Wall
 Venting Fire

• The process of inducting heat and smoke to

leave a building as quickly as possible by such
paths that lateral spread of fire and heat is
checked, fire fighting operations are facilitated
and minimum fire damage is caused.
Venting Fire
 Service Ducts

• Service ducts should be enclosed by walls or

doors of 2 hours fire rating. If ducts are larger
that 1sqmt the floor should seal them but
providing suitable openings for pipes to pass
through.
• The vent opening at the top of the service shaft
should be provided between one-fourth and
one-half of the area of the shaft.
 Basement
• Each basement should be separately ventilated.
Vents with cross sectional area of not less than
2.5 percent of the floor area spread evenly
round the perimeter of the basement should be
provided in the form of grills or breakable stall
board lights.
• Alternatively a system of air inlets at floor level
and smoke outlets at basement ceiling level
should be provided.
 IS 1642, Fire Safety of Buildings (General)
Details of construction- Code of Practice
• Chimneys, Stair cases, Lifts, Fire Lifts, Refuse
area, Refuse chute, Drainage, Electrical Services
and Finishes
 LECTURE 4

FIRE SAFETY: Exit Requirements

 Personal Hazard
• Exit requirements for personal hazards are
considered as paramount because:
 The density of population associated with
particular occupancy.
 Eg. Cinema hall as compared to godown
 Density of population varies between and within
the building spaces.
 Personal Hazard
• In cases of large shopping areas, at certain
periods normal population may be rapidly
exceeded (during peak times, discount times).
At such times any outbreak of fire would cause
confusion, panic etc.
• Therefore attention to design and maintenance
of escape routes, staircases. Flammable
materials, blocking of routes be avoided.
 Personal Hazard
• In case of fire, it would be neither possible
not advisable to rely on Electrical or
Mechanical devices such as lifts for they may
be inoperative.
• Thus stairs and escape routes are important.
• Where stairs landing areas present serious
hazard are required to have fire fighting
equipment with hydrant stand, pipes etc.
 Personal Hazard
• Ample provision for escape of population of a
building when on fire is vital and all routes
should be constructed to ensure that the
population reaches a place of safety in the
shortest periods of time without undue
hindrance by smoke, fumes, debris and the
like.
 Type of Exits
• An exit maybe a door way, a corridor or a
passage way to an internal stairs or to a
verandah, terrace, which have access to the
street, or roof of a building or a refuge area.
• An exit may also include a horizontal exit
leading to an adjoining building at the same
level.
 Exits
• All exits should be free of obstructions.
• No building should be altered so as to reduce
the number, width or protection of exits to less
than required.
• Exits should be clearly visible, and the routes
to reach the exit should be clearly marked and
signs posted to guide people.
 Exits
• Adequate and reliable illumination or paint
should be provided for exits.
• Fire check doors along escape routes to
prevent spread of fire and smoke be placed.
• All exits should provide continuous means of
access to the exterior of a building or to an
exterior open space leading to a street.
 Exits
• Exits should be so arranged that they may be
reached without passing through another
occupied unit.
• For determining exit requirements, the
number of persons within any floor area or the
occupant load should be based on the actual
number of occupants.
 Calculating Exit Requirements
• Capacity of exits: For measuring calculating
capacity of exits be in units of 50 cms.
• Arrangements of exits: located based on
travel distance on floor should not exceed the
standards mentioned.
• Number of exits.
 Number of Exits
• All buildings which are more than 15m height
and all buildings used as educational,
assembly, institutional, industrial, storage
and hazardous occupancies and mixed
occupancies, having more than 500 sqmt on
each floor should have a minimum two
staircases of enclosed type. At least one
external wall of the building opening into a
place of safety.
 Doorways
• Exit doorway should open into an enclosed
stairway or horizontal exit of a corridor or
passageway providing continuous and
protected means of egress.
• Exit doorways should not be less than 100 cm
width and not less than 200 cm height.
• Doorways should open outwards, away from
the room but should not obstruct the travel
along any exit.
 Doorways
• No door when opened should reduce the
required width of stairway or landing to less
than 90 cm. Sliding door should not be installed.
• Exit door should not open immediately upon a
flight of stairs, a landing equal to at least the
width of the door should be provided in the
stairway at each doorway the level of landing
should be the same as the floor
• Exits should be openable from the side which
they serve without the use of a key.
 Revolving Doors
• In mercantile buildings where the congregation
is to be more than 200, revolving doors should
not be installed.
• Revolving doors should not be used as required
exits except in residential, business and
mercantile occupancies.
 Corridors/ Passageways
• Width not be less than required width of exits
leading from them to the exterior.
• Where stairs discharge through corridor, the
corridor height should be minimum 2.4 mts.
 LECTURE 5

FIRE SAFETY:
Staircases, Fire Extinguishers
 Internal Staircases
• Internal stairs should be of non combustible
materials, constructed as self contained unit
with an external wall at least on one side and
should be completely enclosed.
• Stairs be not around lift shaft unless it is
totally enclosed by a material of fire resistance
as that for the construction itself.
• Hollow combustible construction not
permitted.
 Staircases
• No gas piping be laid in the stairway.
• Min. width- Residential--------------------1.0 m
• Auditorium, cinema, assembly-----------1.5 m
• Educational up to 24 m height----------1.5 m
• Educational (more than 24 m height)--2.0 m
• Hospitals up to 10 beds-------------------1.5 m
• Hospitals (more than 10 beds)-----------2.0 m
 Fire Escape Staircases
• These should not be taken into for calculating
the evacuation time of building.
• All escapes should be directly connected to
the ground. Entry to fire escape should be
separate and remote from the internal stairs.
• Windows should not open into fire escape
• Route to fire escape be free of obstruction.
 Fire Escape Staircases
• The fire escape should be constructed of non
combustible materials and doorway leading to
the escape should have the required fire
resistance.
• Should not be inclined greater than 45 degree.
• Should have straight flight, min 75 cm wide, 20
cm treads, risers not more than 19 cm. No
of risers not more than 15/flight.
 Past emphasis on Safety Provision
1. The number of emergency exits
2. Where the exits must be located
3. Signs required at exits
4. Systems required to detect fire
5. Alarms required to warn people of fire
6. Sprinkler system to extinguish fire
7. Materials to be used in construction of the
building to slow the fire spread/growth
 Past emphasis on Safety Provision
8. Construction to limit fire spread from one area
to another.
9. Structural elements to stand up for long
enough to get people out and enable fire
fighters to mount attack.
 Performance based approach
1. Fire, ignition, growth and spread.
2. The location of people in the building and
their state (alcohol, elder, handicap, infants)
3. How people will become aware of a fire and
what they might do.
4. How quickly people can get out.
5. How the fire might develop.
 Performance based approach
6. How smoke will be generated and could
spread
7. How the smoke and fire might affect people
8. How the building materials will respond to fire.
 Extinguisher- Vaporizing Liquid
• Not suitable for enclosed spaces;
because of danger to occupants
• Contain CFCs; therefore under the
international agreement to cease their
use
• Suitable fire fighting equipment of
this type is being sought
• “Clean Agent”
HydroChloroFluoroCarbon (HCFC)
discharged as a rapidly evaporating
liquid which leaves no residue.
• It effectively extinguishes Class A
and B fires by cooling and
smothering and it will not conduct
electricity back to the operator.
 Extinguisher- Carbon Dioxide
• Pressurized with CO2 gas.
• Used for small fires involving solids, liquids and
electricity
• Recommended for use on delicate items such as
electronic components and computers.
• CO2 vapor displaces air around the fire, thereby
ceasing the combusting.
• There is minimal cooling effect, fires may restart in
case of high temperatures. Back up maybe useful
where appropriate.
 Fixed Fire Fighting Installations
• Immediate response may minimize damage.
Backup provided by hose reel installation to be
used by fire brigade.
• Public buildings, shops, factories are protected
by sprinkler system, which operate directly
over the source of Fire. This localizes the fire to
allow evacuation.
 Hose Reels
• Rapid and easy to use first aid
method complimentary to other
systems.
• Located in clearly visible recesses in
corridors so that no part of the
floor is farther than 6 mt from the
Nozzle.
• Protected area is an arc of 18 to 30
m from reel depending on length
of hose.
• Produces a min jet of 8m
(horizontal), 5m (vertical)
• Pressure should be adequate. Water
& tank available, standby pumps
required
 Dry Hydrant Riser
• Hydrant installation for buildings 18-40 mts
high, where prompt attendance by the Fire
Brigade is guaranteed.
• A dry riser pipe of 100-150 mm dia is sited
within a staircase enclosure with a 65mm
valve outlet at each landing. All parts of the
floor to be within 60 mt of the Hydrant
measured when hose is laid.
• A test Hydrant is fitted on the roof level
Dry Hydrant Riser
 Dry Hydrant Riser
• Inlet point to be within 18m of access road
suitable for fire brigade pumping appliance
• Riser electrically earthed
• System is dependent on outside water
source, entirely on fire brigade, pumping from
outside.
 Wet Hydrant Riser
• Permanently charged rising pipe 100mm dia
or more with 410 to 520KPa pressure
• Hydrant valve is strapped and padlocked in the
closed position. Kept 1m from floor and are
used only by the fire brigade for buildings
over 60 m high, that are out of reach of
turntable ladders.
• Normally max 60m high for a low level break
tank and booster set.
 Wet Hydrant Riser
• For buildings higher than 60m, separate
supply tank and pump sets for each 60m
may be provided.
• Pressure boosting of water supply is provided
by a duplicate(additional) pumps
• Pumps start automatically when pressure falls
• A permanent connection also may be made if
there is a river or canal nearby.
Wet Hydrant Riser
• Fire safety water tanks
• Main pumps (electricity)
• Additional pumps/Back up
pumps (Diesel)
• Multi level Water supply tanks
and pumps
• Fire Hydrant
• Landing valve
• Hose Reels
 Foam Inlets
• Oil-fired boiler plant rooms and storage tank
chambers in basement or parts of buildings
have fixed foam inlet pipe work from a red
wired glass foam inlet box in an outside wall as
well as dry hydrant rise.
• A pipe connects for up to 18m from plant
• Fire brigade connect their foam making pipe to
the fixed line at high expansion foam on the fire
• The foam inlet pipe terminates above the
protected plant with a spreader plate.
 Foam Inlets
• Vertical pipes cannot be used. Service is electrically
bonded to earth
• On site foam generation equipment maybe used
for oil filled electrical transformer stations, in case
of fire
• Intended primarily for Flammable Liquids
• Air Foam Concentrate is made into a fixed ratio of
Air Foam Solution by mixing with water flowing
through Feed Pipe and is mechanically stirred by
Foam Maker which sucks air and generates great
deal of Air Foam to extinguish a fire involving
flammable liquids with smothering and cooling
effect.
 LECTURE 6

FIRE SAFETY:
Exposure Hazards
 Maximum Height
• Every building should be restricted in its height
above the ground level and the number of
storeys, depending upon its occupancy and the
type of construction.
• The maximum permissible height for any
combination of occupancy and type of
construction should necessarily be related to the
width of street fronting the building or floor
area ratio.
 Floor Area Ratio
• Each portion of a building, which is separated
by one or more continuous fire resisting walls,
having a fire resistance of not less than 4 h,
extending from the foundation to 1 m above the
roof at all points, may be considered to be a
separate building for the calculation of
maximum permissible height and floor area,
provided openings if any, in the fire separating
wall, are also protected by fire assemblies of 4 h.
Floor Area Ratio
 Open Spaces
• Every room intended for human habitation
should have an interior or exterior open space or
an open verandah open to such interior or
exterior open space.
• The open space inside and around a building
have essentially to cater for the lighting and
ventilation requirements of the rooms abutting
such open spaces, and in the case of building
abutting on streets in the front, rear or sides, the
open spaces provided should be sufficient for
the future widening of such streets.
Front Open Space- Residential
Rear & Side Open Space- Residential
 Open Spaces- Inner Courtyard
• An inner courtyard should have an area,
throughout its height of not less than the
square of one-fifth the height of the highest
wall abutting the courtyard.
• Provided that when any room (excluding
staircase bay, bathroom and water closet) is
dependent for its light and ventilation on an
inner courtyard, the dimensions should be such
as is required for each wing of the building.
 Ventilation Shaft
• For ventilating spaces for water-closets and
bathrooms, if not operating on to front, side,
rear and interior open spaces, these should open
on to the ventilation shaft, the size of which
should not be less than the values given.
Ventilation Shaft
 Joint Open Air Space
• If an interior or exterior open space is intended
to be used for the benefit of more than one
building belonging to the same owner, the width
of such open space should be the one specified
for the tallest building abutting on such open air
space.
Open Spaces for other Occupancies
1 Educational buildings
2 Institutional buildings
3 Assembly buildings
4 Business, Mercantile and
Storage buildings
5 Industrial buildings
6 Hazardous occupancies
6m
Front- 12 m, others- 6 m
Front- 12 m, others- 6 m
4.5 m (in a residential zone)
4 m- for < 16 m,
Additional 0.25 m for every
increase of 1 m height
Same as industrial
 Exemption to Open Spaces
1. Projections into open spaces
• Cornice, sunshades, canopy, projected balcony
• Accessory building
2. Projection into street
• Porticos in existing developed area
• Sunshades

HOME WORK
 High Rise Buildings
1. The width of the main street on which the building
abuts should not be less than 12 m and one end of
this street should join another street not less than
12 m in width
2. The road should not end in a dead end
3. The compulsory open spaces around the building
should not be used for parking
4. Adequate passageway and clearances required for
fire fighting vehicles to enter the premises should
be provided at the main entrance (min width 4.5
m). If an arch or covered gate is constructed, it
should have a clear head-room of not less than 5
m.