Why Fire Doors Are Crucial For Organization Security: Explained”
You may have come across the sentences like “difference between fire & death,” which exactly can be used to define the Fire doors. You would be wondering why we are associating these doors with life and death?
Fire doors are one of the essential fire protection components in a structure, and they can reduce the amount of time it takes for a fire to spread across a structure. A fire protection door, which acts as a physical barrier between the fire and the people, can mean the difference between life and death. People have more time to flee or wait for the fire department to arrive if the fire is slowed down the people within. When correctly placed, maintained, and examined, fire rated doors can help reduce the spread of fire and the damage it might cause.
HOW DO THESE FIRE DOORS CREATE A DIFFERENCE?
Fire doors provide passive fire protection since they do not require physical activation; they are effective fire-resistant barriers that do not require external stimuli. A fire door is a specially designed piece of fire-fighting equipment that has been engineered to meet stringent safety requirements.
When closed, such doors provide crucial fire protection and compartmentalization of escape routes, such as staircases and hallways, allowing occupants to reach a final exit point. When strategically positioned in a building, fire proof doors separate it into different sized compartments, a process known as compartmentalization. This detains the spread of fire and smoke, allowing for a safe escape, and containing the fire in one compartment poses a risk to the rest of the building’s structure. And giving the fire department crucial time to contain and extinguish the fire.
WHAT ARE DIFFERENT KINDS OF FIRE PROOF DOORS?
The features of fire proof doors are generally the same, and they should all meet the appropriate safety standards. The level of fire resistance is usually where they differ. To reflect this, fire doors are given an FD rating, and it is up to the person in charge of the premises to decide which is best for their structure.
The four most frequent FD (Fire Defense) ratings are:
FD30 -fire doors with this rating provide 30 minutes of fire resistance
FD60 – fire resistance for 60 minutes
FD90 – Fire resistance for 90 minutes.
FD120 – Fire resistance for 120 minutes.
FREQUENTLY USED FIRE RATED DOORS: FD 30 & FD 60
The most frequent door style is the FD-30, which is also recommended by fire safety requirements. If there are numerous along a path, they can provide a high level of protection, as The 30 minutes build-up to a significant amount of time and considerably delay the spread of the fire. Compartmentalization is the term used to describe this process.
Except for a fire protection door between two buildings (FD60 is generally used here), anything greater than FD30 is uncommon. However, a higher rating may be utilized in premises where the owner wants to maintain the building and anything within it, such as valuable papers.
DIFFERENCE IN MATERIAL USED
Some fire-safety gates may also differ in terms of the material utilized (for example, fire-resistant glass or metal rather than wood) and any other features, such as a glass window. However, they must meet the essential fire safety criteria in these circumstances, such as having a fire-rated glass with the necessary seal surrounding it in a door window.
Fire doors must meet the requisite safety and security requirements. Are correctly placed, They won’t be able to stop the spread of fire and smoke successfully.
WHAT SHOULD BE AVOIDED?
First, understand these fire doors are not like ordinary doors. Like any other piece of fire safety equipment, a fire door should be fitted by a trained professional, and if they’re built incorrectly, they could be rendered worthless in the case of a fire. Similarly, you should not make any changes to your fire door, such as cutting vision holes or patching it up if it is broken; once compromised, it will need to be replaced.
The fire protection door closer should never be disconnected. In a fire, the door must be closed to maintain its integrity. Also, check whether the door has been propped open or obstructed, intentionally or accidentally.
FIRE DOORS FOR ORGANIZATIONS SECURITY
Besides providing escape time to the people stuck in an organization whose building caught fire, these doors also mean rebuilding the small portion rather than rebuilding the entire location. Let’s use a time machine and enter in the history of Pakistan where we lost thousands of lives, assets and buildings from a small fire of single room, such as Regent Plaza hotel in Karachi, cooperative market Karachi and many more. But if he had these fire doors in pakistan, our ancestor’s didn’t had that much loss. In short, these doors can play a vital role in saving organizations data.
HOW CAN YOU ENSURE THE STANDARD OF FIRE PROTECTION DOORS?
Following are the five simple steps that can be performed to check the reliability of these fireproof doors.
- Check for certification – A label on the top (or occasionally on the side) of the door should indicate certified fire safety gates. If there isn’t, the door may need to be replaced, and it should be reported to the building’s fire safety officer.
- Estimating the gaps – The gaps around a fire protection door should consistently be less than 4mm (the bottom can be slightly larger).
- Examine the seals – The intumescent seals around a fire door are critical to assuring its fire safety; if one is missing or damaged, the door’s fire safety may be jeopardized. Any seals that are broken or missing should be reported.
- Is it completely closed? — Allow the door to open and close on its own. It is unlikely to be useful in the case of a fire if it does not close completely on its own. It could be jeopardized if it sticks even by a few centimeters.
- Examine the hinges — If the hinges aren’t securely fastened or have missing or damaged screws, the door’s integrity may be jeopardized, necessitating maintenance. With well-maintained hinges, you may save a lot of time.
CONCLUSION
Fire doors are an important component of a building’s PASSIVE fire prevention system, required in public buildings, offices, and industries. A fire protection gate serves the same role as any other door in everyday use. However, because a fire outbreak is never predicted, the fire safety gates, unlike any other door, must then fulfill their primary function of protecting life and providing safety to the rest of the building and other structures. Fire rated doors are an important safety element because they prevent the spread of fire and smoke in both houses and non-dwellings (such as workplaces). It’s critical to choose one that’s right for your building’s needs, have it installed appropriately, and have it inspected and maintained regularly to get the most out of it.
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