Fachwissen & Technik-Wiki > Fire protection
Effective Fire Protection: Prevention and Safety
Fire protection refers to all measures that prevent the occurrence and spread of a fire and enable the rescue of people and animals as well as effective firefighting in the event of a fire.
The fire behavior of materials is classified into categories, taking into significant account flammability, flame spread, and heat release. The flammability increases from RF1 to class RF4:
- RF1 (no fire contribution)
- RF2 (low fire contribution)
- RF3 (permissible fire contribution)
- RF4 (impermissible fire contribution)
Technical requirements for components in case of fire
Components must maintain their function (load-bearing capacity, smoke tightness, prevention of fire spread through thermal radiation or heat conduction) for a specified duration in the event of a fire.
The main performance criteria for determining fire resistance are:
E for compartmentation
Compartmentation describes the ability to withstand one-sided fire exposure in such a way that significant amounts of flames or hot gases do not contribute to the spread of the fire on the side opposite to the fire.
I for thermal insulation
Thermal insulation describes the ability of the building component to withstand one-sided fire exposure in such a way that the transfer of fire is excluded, even with significant heat transfer to the opposite side.
