Are All Fire Protection Methods Equal?
Are All Fire Protection Methods Equal?
By Jon Nisja
Fire protection for a building can involve various methods but not all methods are equal. In this blog, we will examine some of these methods and look at the advantages and disadvantages of each method. While there is no “one size, fits all” method, some have been shown to be more effective, depending on the fire or life safety objectives for the building.
While there may be other goals, generally speaking, these are the goals of fire safety:
- Save lives.
- Protect property from damage.
- Maintain continuity of operations (lessen business interruption). This is less understood than saving lives or protecting property but it means that continuing some operations or businesses is more critical than the building itself. Examples of this could be municipal utility plants, 911 communications centers, airports, hospitals, or a large employer in the community.
- Minimize the impact to the environment by limiting pollution from smoke production or contaminated water run-off compared to conventional firefighting operations.
We will look at how various fire protection methods accomplish the above goals.
Table 1 – Fire Protection Methods and Goals Met
| Method | Life Safety | Property Protection | Continuity of Operations | Environmental Impact | Active or Passive Protection[1] | Operate Automatically | How it Works |
| Portable fire extinguishers | L | L | L | N | P | N | Used by people to extinguish small fires. |
| Typically used by building occupants for extinguishing small fires in their early stages. Since the fires are typically small, the impact on goals is limited. | |||||||
| Employee / occupant training and response | Y | N | N | N | P | N | People in the building take action to initiate egress or limit the fire growth or spread. |
| Staff or people in the building take emergency actions to initiate evacuation or control the fire. Some history of success in institutional occupancies but limited in other occupancies. | |||||||
| Fire-resistive construction (egress) | Y | L | N | N | P | N | Protects egress path. |
| Provides fire-resistive construction around critical egress features which provide additional time for evacuation. | |||||||
| Fire-resistive construction (compartmentation) | N | Y | Y | N | P | N | Contains fire spread. |
| Contains the fire within the area bounded by fire-rated construction. | |||||||
| Smoke control systems | Y | L | Y | N | A | Y | Provides protection from smoke spread. |
| Often requires smoke detection to activate; may provide additional time for egress. | |||||||
| Fire alarm systems (manual activation) | L | N | N | N | P | N | Alerts occupants of fire. |
| Probably of limited value as they require human activation. | |||||||
| Fire alarm systems (heat detection) | N | L | Y | N | A | Y | Alerts occupants of fire conditions. |
| Activates too late to be of significant life safety value; may provide limited property protection. | |||||||
| Fire alarm systems (smoke detection) | Y | L | Y | N | A | Y | Alerts occupants of fire conditions. |
| Alerts occupants to fire conditions in early stages. Particularly effective where persons are sleeping. The number of nuisance or false alarms is a concern. | |||||||
| Fixed fire extinguishing systems | L | Y | Y | Y | A | Y | Suppresses or extinguishes the fire. |
| Generally used for localized or partial fire protection. Various types of gaseous agents and chemicals. Some types have been shown to be very effective (over 90%). | |||||||
| Standpipe systems | Y | Y | L | Y | A | N | Provides a firefighting water supply in the building. |
| Generally intended for fire department use. Fire department must be notified and present at scene to use. Typically seen in large or tall buildings. | |||||||
| Fire sprinkler systems | Y | Y | Y | Y | A | Y | Controls the fire and limits spread. |
| Excellent track record of 90% fire control. Keeps fire from spreading and limits products of combustion. Maintains tenable conditions for egress. | |||||||
[1] Active: uses moving mechanical or electrical parts to achieve fire protection. Passive: provides protection from fire or smoke without any type of system activation or movement. Definitions based on NFPA 3.
Y=Yes, N=No. L=Limited value
A=Active protection, P=Passive protection
Fire sprinklers are active fire protection systems that operate automatically and can be used to accomplish all four goals of fire safety.
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About the author: Jon Nisja is a Data and Fire Protection Specialist with the National Fire Sprinkler Association (NFSA). Prior to working for NFSA, Jon served as a fire marshal since 1985 in two communities and as a state fire safety supervisor for the Minnesota State Fire Marshal Division. From 2005-2022, he supervised the State Fire Marshal’s fire protection, training, and data teams. He is the past president of both the Fire Marshals Association of Minnesota and the International Fire Marshals Association. Jon can be contacted at nisja@nfsa.org.
