Rules that Save Lives
Introduction
The set of measures that are available in buildings to protect them against the action of fire from a fire is called fire protection. Fires result in material losses, property or, in the worst case, human lives.
Generally, they try to achieve three purposes:
• - Save human lives.
• - Minimize economic losses caused by fire.
• - Ensure that the building's activities can be resumed in the shortest period of time possible.
Saving human lives is usually the only purpose of the regulations of the various states and the other two are imposed by insurance companies, lowering policies the more appropriate the means are.
Fundamental firefighting measures can be classified into two types:.
• - Passive measures: These are the measures that affect the project or the construction of the building, firstly facilitating the evacuation of users present in the event of a fire, through paths (corridors "Corridor (architecture)") and stairs) of sufficient width, and secondly delaying and confining the action of the fire so that it does not spread too quickly or stops before invading other areas.
• - Active measures: Fundamentally manifest in fire extinguishing facilities.
Passive media
To achieve a quick and easy evacuation of the building's occupants, the various regulations determine the minimum width of the corridors, stairs and evacuation doors, the maximum distances to travel until reaching a safe place, as well as construction provisions (opening of the doors in the direction of evacuation, stairs with handrails, etc.). Protected evacuation routes are also established ("Corridor (room)" corridors and stairs), so that they not only have walls, floors and ceilings resistant to the action of fire, but are also decorated with non-combustible materials. The provisions go so far as to determine that a flight of stairs will have a minimum of three steps, to prevent falls.
To slow the progress of the fire, the building is divided into fire sectors of certain maximum sizes, sectors limited by walls, ceiling, floor and doors of a certain fire resistance. In evacuation, moving from one sector to another means reaching a safer place. Every complete building must also be a fire sector to prevent the fire from passing to the adjacent buildings. The fire technicians grouped in the APTB (Professional Association of Fire Technicians) insist that, in the event of a fire, it is It is important to close the doors to the fire to prevent its spread. In fact, the tests carried out by firefighting technicians are very illustrative, showing how people who took refuge in their rooms with the door closed are saved, while the rest of the house was completely destroyed.[1].