Fire Services

Fire safety engineering design requires the identification of an appropriate fire size on which a design can be based. This is one of the key decisions in fire safety engineering design and requires formulation of a quantitative description of the fire. Published reliable data is scarce and fire safety engineers often resort to a simple generic description based on assumption.

A summary of the most commonly used parameters in fire safety engineering is detailed as part of the summary of each of the experimental fires where available and

include the following parameters:

• HRR
• heat of combustion
• mass of fire load
• optical density
• carbon dioxide concentration
• carbon monoxide concentration.

Depending on the geographical location of a building, its legislative fire safety requirements may be achieved in a number of ways. Fire safety engineering is a generally accepted approach for demonstrating that the legislative fire safety requirements of a design have been achieved. A building design which is supported by a performance-based fire safety engineered solution comprises a number of components.

We are able to;

• Predetermine if tenability criteria are exceeded
• If further fire protection measures are required (eg a smoke control system)
• The specification of such fire protection measures.

Clearly, there is great significance associated with the selection by the fire consultant of an appropriate design fire to ensure it is representative of the situation considered to fulfil the life safety requirements.

Typically, the adoption of a fire-engineered approach to fire safety design can maximise design flexibility, produce a cost-effective and appropriate package of measures, and satisfy the requirements of building legislation. 

Umlilo Consulting offers a full fire consulting service.  Early discussions between the fire consultant and the design team can provide the benefits of the performance based approach to building regulation approval.  

We can assist in the interpretation of codes and guidance when in negotiations with the approving authorities, and in the development of fire safety strategies that summarise the engineered approach and the agreed solutions.  Where appropriate, the strategies include fire, smoke, and evacuation modelling.  Our fire strategies include property protection, business disruption as well as for life safetyP