Fire Safety in Multi-Family Construction
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Balanced Design
 This
is a formal way of describing the three essential components of
protecting life and property from fire: detection, suppression,
and non-combustible construction. As we will see, the first two
are active systems and the third is a passive system. In combination,
the three parts equal balanced design, which offers the best protection
in the event of a fire.
Detection simply means an alarm system. Thus,
it is active, warning people of danger and giving them a chance
to get out. It can be smoke or fire alarms, and battery operated
versions have been available to the public for a long time. Hard-wired
systems may be installed in multi-family buildings. One risk here
is that batteries don’t get checked frequently or electrical
service gets interrupted, so the system can become disabled. Another
risk is that the occupants have limited mobility, like young children
or the elderly or disabled persons who require assistance getting
around.
Suppression comes in the form of a sprinkler system,
also an active component of fire protection. While this provides
a means to put out fires before they grow too large, there are potential
problems with system operation. Water supplies might be interrupted
or sprinkler heads may malfunction.
 Non-combustible
construction is the third leg of balanced design, the only
one that is passive. As long as it’s in place, it becomes
moblized in the event of a fire. It simply requires choosing a non-combustible
material like masonry or concrete for members like support walls,
separation walls between units, or floor/ceiling systems. Whether
the construction contains the fire completely or delays its spread,
it offers an important time cushion for occupants to escape and
for firefighters to combat the blaze before structural integrity
of the building is compromised.
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