A Firestopping Primer for Today’s Buildings
56 I ICT TODAY
If fire safety in the built environment were a football team, the sprinkler
system might be considered the quarterback, and the passive fire protection
features, such as fire-rated barriers, firestopping, doors, and dampers, would
be analogous to the offensive line quietly doing its work in the background.
The offensive line is essential! A team with a bad offensive line cannot win
a championship even with a star quarterback. Fire sprinklers are highly
identifiable safety features in any building. Often overlooked, however,
are the fire-rated floors and walls that work in combination with the
sprinkler system to provide life safety and property protection. Building
and safety codes prescribe the use of both active (e.g., sprinklers) and passive
(e.g., fire-rated barriers, firestopping) fire protection systems. Such
redundancy is sometimes referred to as safety-layering. Should one system
fail, there is an added level of safety. It is much like seat belts and air bags
in vehicles; both are vital in a catastrophic event.
By Justin Pine, RCDD