Pressurised staircase

Fire safety systems can be provided via structural or technical solutions.
Technical solutions include sprinkler systems, smoke detectors, smoke shields, pressurisation of rooms and stairwells.
Pressurisation in particular has become a common solution, especially in anglo-American countries and in new and high-rise buildings. The system can be also retro-fitted into existing buildings. Since combustion in itself is not the main killer agent during a fire, the idea is to prevent smoke from spreading, hence suffocating people. Also smoke diminishes visibility, hindering safe egress routes and the firefighters search and rescue operations.
The pressurisation system is automatically activated by smoke detectors located within the building.
For pressurising a staircase you need to pump air within the shaft and have all doors giving access to it to be fire-proofed. Besides a certain resistance time to fire, smoke leakage is not acceptable in these kind of doors. At the same time extractors located in the rest of the building suck the smoke into conducts or directly out in the air. The difference in pressure between the staircase and the rest of the building has to be carefully calculated so that people are actually able to open the fire doors with ease.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu