Fire accidents happen and will continue to happen. Can we prevent an accident to convert into an incident? Can we prevent an incident to convert into a tragedy? Yes, and yes. But ideally this starts very early on in the life of a building. The aim of this article series is to enhance the broader understanding of fire safety philosophy which is the First Line of Defense when an accident can trigger a fire. The concept of ‘compartmentation’ when Designed, Installed, Inspected and Maintained correctly has successfully saved lives and property around the world in countless incidents.
WHY AND HOW OF COMPARTMENTATION
Humans have constantly been learning from their mistakes. Over the decades, countless fires have been studied and systems have been created and improved iteratively in different parts of the world. Two parallel approaches have evolved, progressed and been implemented around the world to bring about ‘fire safety’ & ‘life safety’. One being to compartmentalize the fire where it is initiated and limit the use of ignitable and highly combustible materials, so that the fire does not grow bigger and get carried ahead. This is the first line of defense and often grouped under ‘passive fire protection’ and addresses fires related to interior and even exterior of buildings. The second approach is a reactive approach; that revolves around sensing or detecting a fire and/ or smoke and then triggering various actions to douse the fire, limit its growth, trigger evacuation, etc. There is more latency in this approach and often these means rely more on fast-evolving technology requiring assured availability of power, water and consumables that are needed to be stored and deployed to tackle the fire. This approach is grouped under ‘active fire protection’.
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