FIRE SAFETY FROM STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS' POINT OF VIEW

摘要

Provision of fire safety measures in buildings has evolved over many centuries. In the twelfth century, a proliferation of fires in London led to the requirement of stonewalls as boundaries between buildings. After the Great Fire of London in September 1666, owners of buildings began to insure their properties against fire damage and insurance companies started employing men to put out fires, which developed into the organised fire fighting of modern times. The medieval wooden house buildings gave way to brick and stone buildings and legislation was introduced to bring in the use of non-combustible materials in stairs and floors in escape corridors. It would seem that the early fire safety provisions were strongly influenced by fire brigade experience, gained through various cases of fire in different types of buildings. Experience gained in the UK, supplemented by developments in the USA, led to such important concepts as the twentieth century categorisation of buildings to differentiate between relative fire risks, for example, low in small dwellings and high in public buildings. Testing of fire resistance of salient building components developed simultaneously and statutory requirements were put in place to accord with the principles of means of escape, control on fire spread (with provision of compartments) and facilities for fire-fighting. In the UK, important legislation has been subsequently introduced and reviewed, for example, Fire Precaution Act 1971 and Building Act 1984. This process resulted in a comprehensive set of requirements given in Schedule 1 of the Building Regulations and statutory guidance in Approved Document -- Part B (AD B). The guidance was mainly empirical at the start but it has been regularly reviewed and updated from time to time.