Passive Fire Inspections

The use of fire resisting materials to construct the compartmentation within a building is designed to limit the spread of fire away from the compartment of fire origin. This in turn helps to protect the escape routes and final exits providing sufficient time for people within the building to evacuate as well as providing time for the responding fire service personnel to contain and extinguish the fire. The passive fire protection systems often seen in buildings include the following.

Fire Compartment & Sub-Compartment Walls

Walls constructed as compartment and sub-compartment walls are designed to form a fire resisting barrier preventing fire and smoke being able to spread. The walls themselves are constructed from fire resistant materials and using methods that ensure the walls are able to achieve the minimum required fire resistance they are required to provide. Where building services pass through these walls, or where openings are made for windows and doors, these must be fire stopped to ensure that the fire resistance of the walls is not compromised.

BlueLight Fire Engineering carry out and manage inspections of the compartmentation and fire stopping installed in all types of buildings. We provide each client a full set of inspection data and a full fire stopping register which can be used as a record for all fire stopping installed in a building. This can then be used for the ongoing maintenance and inspection of the compartmentation and fire stopping, including when new works to areas of compartmentation are carried out. Our inspection data clearly sets out what non-compliances are present and how these can be remediated. We also identify whether non-compliances are as a result of defective specification and installation or as a result of poor maintenance and degradation.

Fire Dampers

Where ductwork services pass through fire rated construction, fire or fire and smoke dampers are installed as a fire protection measure. In the event of a fire, the dampers are activated and automatically close to maintain the fire resistance of the fire line through which they are installed. Where fire and smoke dampers are installed, these also prevent the spread of smoke.

It is essential that fire and fire and smoke dampers are inspected regularly and that any required maintenance activities are completed to help ensure the dampers remain fully functional and are able to operate as intended in the event of being activated. Dampers should be tested regularly to demonstrate that they are able to close properly and fully. Where a damper does not close or does not perform as required in a fire, this creates an easy route for unseen fire spread across compartment lines.

BlueLight Fire Engineering can provide advice and support on the testing and maintenance requirements for fire and fire and smoke dampers, and we can provide damper inspections across a range of different building types. The inspection data from these inspections provides a comprehensive record of the dampers installed, their current condition, any remedial actions that are required and recommendations for the ongoing inspection and maintenance of the dampers.

Fire Protection to Structural Elements

To help maintain the structural integrity of a building during a fire, it is essential that the structural elements are adequately fire protected. The application of intumescent coatings or fire protection boards to the structural elements can help to prevent fire being able to penetrate and potentially weaken areas of the structure. Where fire is able to attack exposed and unprotected structural elements, this can lead to a weakening of the structural integrity resulting in the collapse or partial collapse of parts of the building.

Fire protection installed during the construction of a building can degrade or become damaged during the lifetime of the building. It is therefore important that regular inspections of the fire protection are carried out. Where defects are identified, these should be remediated or mitigated to help ensure the structural integrity of the building is not compromised.

BlueLight Fire Engineering carry out structural fire protection inspections and can provide ongoing advice and support on how the structural fire protection can be maintained. In some buildings where it is later identified that fire protection has not been applied to all areas of the building structure, we can provide guidance on the best ways to mitigate the lack of fire protection where access to retrospectively apply fire protection is not possible.

The data provided following an inspection can be used to form a record of a building's structural fire protection and it can be used for all ongoing maintenance and inspection activities.