The design of any building and the type of materials used in its construction are crucial in determining

the building’s fire resistance. • For high rise buildings, non-combustible materials should be used for
construction.

GENERALREQUIREMENTS • A building may be occupied during construction, repairs, alteration or

addition only if all the means of exit and well maintained fire protection measures are in place. • During
construction of a high rise building following measures must be taken:- Dry riser pipe (100 mm dia) with
hydrant outlets should be constructed on all floors with a fire service inlet and in well maintained
condition should be laid down. 2000 L capacity water drum with 2 fire buckets on each floor. There
should be a 20,000 L capacity water storage tank.

OPEN SPACES AND STREET WIDTH • Buildings should have 6m wide open space on its four sides. • At
least one side main street should be 12m wide. • For buildings with height above 30m, the road should
not be a dead end. • The premises should have at least 4.5 m wide and 5 m high gateway.

FIRESAFETYAND SERVICES • Electrical and ventilation services- Electrical installations, air- conditioning
and ventilation should be installed and maintained so as to minimize the danger of spread of fire, smoke
or fumes from one floor to other. • Air-conditions and ventilation should be provided with manual and
automatic control to shut automatically in case of fire and stop it from spreading. • Smoke venting-
Smoke venting facilities should be provided for ensuring safe exit with automatic and manual control
both.

OPENINGSAND FIRESAFETY • Every wall opening should be protected with a fire resistant door with fire
rating of min 2 h. • Openings in wall or floor for the passage of services should be enclosed by shaft or
duct with fire rating of 2 hour. • Every vertical opening should be enclosed or protected to ensure the
escape of its occupants and limit the damage to the building.

GLAZING • Wired glasses should have minimum ½ hr fire resistance rating. • The sashes and frame
should be entirely made of iron/stainless steel or other suitable metal. • Electro copper glazing,
casement, skylight will also follow the same criteria. • The glass used for facade of a high rise building
should have minimum 1 hr fire resistance rating. • Louvers should have minimum fire resistance rating
of ½ hour.

GENERALEXIT REQUIREMENTS Every building meant for human occupancy should be provided with
exits sufficient to permit safe escape of its occupants, in case of fire, or emergency. • An exit can be- A
doorway Corridor Passageway(s) to internal or external staircase/ verandah /terrace, which has
access to the street, or to the roof or a refuge area. An horizontal exit leading to an adjoining building
at the same level. • Lifts and escalators shall NOT be considered as exits

ARRANGEMENTS OF EXIT • Total time taken to evacuate a floor by all its occupants should not exceed
2½ min. • The travel distance to an exit from the dead end of a corridor should not be more than 22.5-
30 m. (in case of fully sprinklered building, the travel distance can be increased by 50% .) • In case of
more than one exit, it should be placed as remote from each other as possible and should have direct
access in separate directions from any point. • The internal walls of staircase enclosures should be of
brick work or reinforced concrete or any other material of construction with minimum of 2 h rating.

FIRE EXTINGUISHERS/FIXEDFIRE FIGHTING INSTALLATION All buildings depending upon the occupancy
use and height should be protected by fire extinguishers, wet riser, down-comer, automatic sprinkler
installation, high/ medium velocity water spray, water storage tanks, fire pumps etc, according to the
provision. Generally used fire fighting equipments in GROUP A buildings: 1. FIRE EXTINGUISHER 2. HOSE
REEL 3. WET RISER 4. DOWN COMER 5. HYDRANT 6. PUMP 7. AUTOMATIC SPRINKLER SYSTEM 8.
UNDERGROUND STATIC WATER-STORAGE TANK. 9. ILLUMINATED EXIT-WAY MARKING SIGNS 10.
AUTOMATIC/ MANUALLY OPERATE FIRE DETECTION AND ALARM SYSTEM 1. FIRE EXTINGUISHER

HOSE REEL • It is a high-pressure hose that carries water or other fire retardant to a fire to extinguish it.
• It can be attached to a building’s standpipe or plumbing system, with a high structure to accommodate
the length of a hose to let it dry after use. • It works on a pressure of 8-20 kpa.

DRYRISER • It is a form of internal hydrant for the fire- man to use. • A dry riser is a normally empty
pipe, that can be externally connected to a pressurized water source by fire-fighters. • It is a vertical
pipe intended to distribute water to multiple levels of a building or structure as a component of the fire
suppression systems. • An arrangement of fire fighting within the building by means of vertical rising
mains not less than 100 mm internal diameter with landing valves on each floor landing which is
normally dry but is capable of being charged with water usually by pumping from fire service appliances.

AUTOMATICSPRINKLERS They should be installed in: • Basements used as car parks or storage, area
exceeding 200 sq m. • Multi-level basements, covered upper floors used as car parks. • Any room or
compartment of a building exceeding 1,125 sq m. Automatic Sprinkler System — A system of water
pipes fitted with sprinkler heads at suitable intervals and heights and designed to actuate automatically,
control and extinguish a fire by the discharge of water.