AHMEDABAD: Fire in any building sets off panic. This, however, was not the reaction when a two-storeyed building caught flames at IIT Gandhinagar (IIT-Gn) last week. Several people gathered around, but they were not there to douse the fire. Instead, they had assembled to study it. The project was a fire experiment that saw experts set fire from a specific point with a spark. People then observed the pattern, spread, flammable material responding to the spread, emanation of smoke, and so on.

Gaurav Srivastava, associate professor of civil engineering at IIT-Gn, said that the fire experiment was focused on the use of firestops this year. "We divided the building into two parts – while side A had a properly tested and rated firestop system, side B had a commonly used firestop system. The sides were identical in all other aspects," he said.

The sides were ignited simultaneously from the ground floor. The first 10 minutes – considered to be the most crucial time to address a fire emergency – saw a significant difference in smoke spread. "Side A showed better containment of smoke locally, whereas side B saw the smoke rising rapidly to the first floor. The real-life scenario would have made it difficult for the firefighters to evacuate persons from both floors," said Prof Srivastava. "The experiment reinforced our earlier findings that engineered firestop systems can drastically enhance the safe window for a building."
Over 100 delegates from academia, fire services, industry and consultancy participated in the one-day workshop on the design, installation, and inspection of perimeter through penetration firestops at IIT-Gn before the demonstration.

Rajesh Bhatt, former chief fire officer of Ahmedabad Fire and Emergency Services (AFES), said that in a majority of blaze incidents in highrises, it is the smoke that causes major concern.

"After a fire is started, the hot air along with smoke starts travelling upwards. It often finds gaps near the pipes and causes damage to electric wires. Asphyxiation by smoke also often takes place when the smoke doesn’t find escape," he said.

"Despite safety norms in place, we often find buildings lacking firestops, which is any intervention that traps the flames and smoke to a specific segment and prevents its escape to adjoining section or upper floors."

Source: Times of India