These standards were developed to simulate the type of fires that occur in commercial buildings, such as offices, hospitals, and schools. These are often referred to as “cellulosic fires” due to the nature of the contents typically found in a commercial office building or multi-dwelling residence. At five minutes, the temperature within the furnace reaches 538 C (1,000 F). The temperature gradually increases during the duration of the test until at four hours, the temperature within the furnace reaches 1,093 C (2,000 F). This is the standard time/temperature curve for buildings.
ULC-S101/ASTM E119 is the standard test of building construction and material. These test methods are intended to evaluate the duration for which the types of building elements contain a fire, retain their structural integrity, or exhibit both properties during a predetermined test exposure.
A test specimen is subjected to a standard fire that is controlled to maintain a given temperature for a predetermined amount of time. When required, the fire exposure is followed by the application of a specified standard fire hose stream applied in accordance with Practice E2226, Standard Practice for Application of Hose Stream. The test provides a relative measure of the fire-test-response of comparable building elements under fire exposure. The exposure is not representative of all fire conditions because conditions vary with changes in the amount, nature, and distribution of fire loading, ventilation, compartment size and configuration, and heat sink characteristics of the compartment.
Variation from the test conditions or test specimen construction, such as size, materials, and method of assembly, also affect the fire-test-response. For these reasons, evaluation of the variation is required for application to construction in the field.
Staying safe
Code requirements are set at the lowest performance levels legally allowed for construction. Codes require which tests fire-rated doors must perform, as well as what performance level they must meet. However, if a product or assembly passes the minimum performance requirements and surpasses additional tests above and beyond what the code requires, it will offer the building owner and occupants more protection.
Fire protection officials and codes can do much to help ensure safety. It is, however, up to the building owners, construction teams, architects, and specifiers to invest in and properly install the appropriate fire safety products as intended for a particular application. Further, construction teams should confer with local officials to ensure compliance with Canada’s National Building Code (NBC) or local building codes.
Passive fire protection equipment plays an important part in keeping workers and owners safe. While differences in fire-rated floor doors are subtle in language, architects and specifiers need to be cognizant of how heat transfer and intumescent coatings are critical concepts to factor into building design.
Author
Steve Weyel is the director of sales and marketing for BILCO. The company has been serving the building industry since 1926 in the design and manufacturing of specialty access products.
