What is passive fire protection?
When it comes to fire protection, you might hear the word passive and think it means waiting for a fire emergency to happen and waiting to respond. That’s not the case at all. Passive fire protection describes a system that is formed into the overall safety network of commercial office buildings etc. Read on to discover more about the basics of understanding passive fire protection.
Passive versus Active
Every time you walk into a commercial building, you are likely to be surrounded by passive fire protection. These systems include features like fire-resistant walls, flooring, and doors as well as fire-resistant glass, cable coating and other features. Depending on building requirements, they can be made from various materials. These features are considered passive fire protection because they are always working. You’ll never need to turn on or engage a fire-resistant wall, glass, or flooring in case of an emergency. On the opposite end, active fire protection is added after the building has been constructed and are not considered as part of the building itself.
The Role of Passive Protection
Passive fire protection does not work to actually extinguish fires itself. Alternatively, it works to contain fires to a designated area and keep the fire from expanding further throughout the building. The system does this by essentially transforming each area into its own sealed unit. This type of method helps the blaze burn out, giving people much greater chances of safely escaping the building.
What can we do?
At Activfire, we provide fire protection services throughout the UK. Our fire stopping solutions include Fire Rated Batts, Intumescent Mastic Seals, Insulated Fire Sleeves and Fire Resistant Silicones.
Fire doors are a crucial element of a building’s passive fire safety system, slowing down the spread of fire and smoke. We offer many services within the fire door sector for new and existing buildings offering a complete service form inspection to application and certification.
Check out the rest of our website to learn more about passive fire protection and the other fire protection services we provide.