To protect a building from a fire, it is essential to have fire protection, suppression, and prevention systems. Some people might be confused about how these systems differ. It’s not good idea to use these terms as a interchangeably. Instead, it is important to understand how fire suppression, prevention, and fire protection systems interact. This article will explain how these three systems work together to protect both buildings and individuals.
What is fire protection?
A fire protection system’s purpose is to protect the building’s occupants from fire and minimize damage. The goal of a fire protection system is to allow safe evacuation and minimize potential damage.
Active and passive fire protection systems can be classified. Active systems can be used to fight fires, such as sprinklers and fire alarms. Passive fire protection refers to structural measures that prevent smoke and flames from entering buildings. We recommend reading our article What is an active and passive Fire Protection System?.
Passive fire protection has many facets. It helps prevent the spread of fire and also maintains a building’s structural integrity. These are the key elements of passive fire protection.
Compartmentation
Fire safety regulations require that buildings must be divided into manageable areas. Specialists will install cavity barriers, fire doors, and walls to stop smoke from entering these areas. Important part of compartmentation is also fire protection boards. They are designed to conduct heat, rather than absorb it. When exposed to high temperatures, they don’t shrink. To seal around service penetrations, fire stopping solutions can be used. The fire stopping solutions are used to seal around service penetrations.
In the end, compartmentation is a way to effectively contain smoke, heat, and fire. This protects critical escape routes, particularly for firefighters arriving on the scene. To learn more about fire compartmentation within buildings, visit our dedicated page.
Intumescent paint
Protecting steel beams from fire damage is possible with intumescent paint. Spray-applied or applied by brush, this paint adds a thin coating to the structural frame. The intumescent coating forms a carbonaceous layer when the temperature of the fire exceeds 500°C. This creates a protective layer on the steel that reduces its heat exposure and delays its degrading. Intumescent coatings can provide fire protection for up to 120 minutes. This time frame could mean the difference between safe evacuation of a building or causing serious damage and even death. For more information, visit our dedicated page on intumescent paints for steel.
These are only a few of the essential components of a good fire protection strategy. It is crucial for fire protection that all building materials used on-site be non-flammable, rated according to industry standards. A fire protection strategy is defined as any part of a building’s fabric that is fire-rated.
Fire protection does not necessarily prevent a fire from starting. It’s not about stopping fires from starting, but rather minimizing damage and providing safe exit plans for building occupants. Here is where we see the first difference between fire prevention and fire protection.
What is fire prevention?
Fire prevention systems are designed to reduce a building’s potential fire risk. Fire protection professionals use the term “Fire load” to assess the severity of a fire in buildings. This is determined based on the presence or absence of certain hazards. Fire prevention is essentially a way to reduce the risk of serious fires. We can reduce the risk of fire by storing combustible materials safely and by avoiding ignition points (such as heating systems or plug sockets)
It is important to be aware of potential fire hazards and conduct regular fire safety inspections as well as risk assessments. Fire prevention measures are largely common sense. To understand the dangers of indoor smoking and blocking fire exits, we don’t have to be fire safety specialists. However, we should be informed about any measures that are put in place to stop a fire from consuming a building. This is true for both commercial and residential buildings.
Now we can see the difference between fire protection and fire prevention. Fire prevention involves proactively identifying and eliminating fire hazards. We cannot guarantee that buildings will not catch fire. We must also add fire protection systems that are fully compliant and high-quality to our fire prevention strategies.
What is fire suppression?
A fire suppression system’s sole purpose is to extinguish fires as quickly as possible. The system will emit a concentrated substance to stop the flames once it is aware that there is a fire. It is possible for the substance to be different depending on the environment it is protecting. Examples include carbon dioxide, inert gas and a variety of liquid and dry chemical agents.
Fire suppression systems don’t use water. This is one of their most distinctive features. Water mist suppression systems are the exception. We explore them in our article fire suppression and protection technologies. Fire suppression systems are commonly used in areas that are more susceptible to water damage such as rooms that have large quantities of electrical equipment. Museums and galleries often have fire suppression systems, which are usually filled with fragile and highly valuable materials.
Fire suppression is the last step in preventing the spread of fire. This context allows us to see fire prevention, protection and suppression as three stages. Each stage contains specific measures to fight and prevent fires. We have the responsibility to review and evaluate each component of the system regularly, in order to quickly spot and correct any neglect or risks. Here are the main differences in fire suppression, prevention, and fire protection.
- Fire prevention systems are designed to reduce the risk of fire.
- Fire protection helps reduce damage and safely evacuate buildings.
- Fire suppression systems are designed to put out the flames.
