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Fire Safety
Fire safety is a group of equipment and/or behaviour designed to both reduce the risk of starting a fire and reduce the risk of injury in the event of a fire. Additional fire safety measures are designed to protect private property and even structural integrity. Conversely, objects that have the opposite effect--i.e., increase the risk of both fire and injury--are known as fire hazards.
Classifying fire
| Type |
Example |
Class |
| Common Combustibles |
Wood, paper, cloth etc. |
A |
| Flammable liquids and gases |
Gasoline, propane and solvents |
B |
| Live electrical equipment |
Computers, fax machines etc. |
C |
| Combustible metals |
Magnesium, lithium, titanium |
D |
| Cooking media |
Cooking oils and fats |
K |
Goals
Fire safety system has three major goals:
Continuity of operations
Property protection
Life safety
Components
Structural fire protection (in land-based buildings, offshore construction or onboard ships) is typically
achieved via three means:
Passive fire protection (use of integral, fire-resistance rated wall and floor assemblies that are used to
form fire compartments intended to limit the spread of fire, or occupancy separations, or firewalls, to keep
fires, high temperatures and flue gases within the fire compartment of origin, thus enabling firefighting
and evacuation)
Active fire protection (manual and automatic detection and suppression of fires, as in using and installing
a fire sprinkler system or finding the fire (fire alarm) and/or extinguishing it)
Education (ensuring that building owners and operators have copies and a working understanding of the applicable
building and fire codes, having a purpose-designed fire safety plan and ensuring that building occupants,
operators and emergency personnel know the building, its means of Active fire protection and Passive fire
protection, its weak spots and strengths to ensure the highest possible level of safety)
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