Fire doors are a critical safety feature of any building in which people live, work or visit, as they offer resistance to the spread of fire and smoke, limit the effects whilst allowing enough time for occupants to evacuate to a place of safety.
Fire doors are required to offer two main functions:
(A) Maintain any compartmentation of buildings in order to limit fire spread;
(B) Enable access to protected escape routes such as corridors, lobbies and stairways whilst maintaining fire resistance and limit smoke movement.
The current legislation puts the responsibility for the fire safety of properties under the control of building owners and managers.
It may be a requirement of your insurance policy to ensure that fire resisting doors and escape doors are correctly installed and maintained, in order for them to be fit for purpose.
The risk assessment and the amount of traffic the doorway is subject to will determine the frequency of maintenance checks recommended.
There are many different types of fire doors available – from different materials to varying fire ratings and protection levels. The effectiveness of a fire door and the type required depends on its location in the building, and the type of fire hazards surrounding it.
A door fire performance is tested in accordance with either BS 476-22 or BS EN 1634-1 and marked accordingly. When tested to the BS 476-22 standard such doors are marked by the prefix FD, followed by its minutes-based resistance rating. Therefore, a door marked FD 30 can resist integrity failure for 30 minutes, FD 60 can resist for 60 minutes. When tested to BS EN 1634-1 standard and classified in accordance with BS EN 13501-2, doors are identified by the prefix E followed by the integrity rating expressed in minutes e.g. E30, E60.
Integrity failure happens when cracks/openings develop on the door due to the pressure of the fire, which then starts to allow hot gases and smoke to pass through. Stability failure occurs when the door starts to collapse due to the conditions.
There are glazing options with toughened fire glass that can withstand temperatures in excess of 1600°F, compared to just 250°F of standard glazing. Glass fire screens and doors can also provide performance up to 120 minutes integrity.
As well as providing fire resistance, legislation requires certain doors to limit the spread of ambient temperature ‘cold’ smoke. These doors are fitted with a smoke seal and are identified by the suffix ‘S’ when tested in accordance with BS 476-31.0, e.g. FD 30S, and suffix ‘Sa’ when tested in accordance with BSEN 1634-3 and classified under BS EN 13501-2, e.g. FD 30Sa.