Fire & Life Safety
Introduction
All buildings generally require some sort of fire and life safety precautions. Smaller residential buildings will require at the very least, fire detectors such as smoke and carbon detectors to alert occupants. While larger high rise buildings may require complex fire suppression systems and building wide alarm notification systems. On high rises in urban areas, these alarms may be directly connected to the local fire station providing almost immediate alert to the firefighters. The fire detection, alert, and suppression systems are all important parts of the building's overall life safety and fire protection strategies.
Building codes and other regulatory guides are in existence to maintain and constantly improve the safety and welfare of human life. They are intended to be used by architects as a minimum standard only, and do not necessarily provide the best solution in every case. It is the architect's ultimate responsibility to ensure the project meets the expectations expressed by regulatory agencies and codes, and therefore that they are designing a ‘safe’ building.
The purpose of licensing Architects is to assure that Architects are competent to protect the public’s health, safety, and welfare. An Architect must be able to design buildings that are structurally safe and meet the requirements for fire and health safety.
Primary Goals (in Order of Importance) of Fire Resistance:
Protect human life
Permit the safe egress of occupants in case of fire. Architecture should delay the fire from spreading fast.
Protection of property
Maintain structural integrity of a building and limit spread of a fire long enough to be fought by fire-fighters.
Restoration and continued usefulness of a property after a fire.