Fire safety of wooden balconies, facades and eaves

Abstract

Fire safety aspects and requirements of wooden balconies and access balconies have been studied covering the following countries: Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Finland, France, Norway, Sweden, UK and Canada. The analysis concerned 3-8 storey apartment buildings with timber frames (and to some extent also office buildings), including the following topics: Assumptions on fire exposure, fire resistance requirements, reaction to fire requirements, possible requirements concerning protective means and use of balconies as exit routes in a fire situation. The performance of different types of protection of eaves under facade fires were analysed to find safe and practical solutions. The different types of eaves include totally closed (EI 30) eaves, use of fire dampers and closing valves, ventilated eaves with specific fire preventive construction and compensation of requirements for eaves by additional requirements for roofs (case-specific applications). FIRE SAFETY REQUIREMENTS FOR BALCONIES AND ACCESS BALCONIES Requirements for 3-8 storey apartment buildings (partly also for office buildings) with wooden frames were reviewed by sending a questionnaire to national experts of fire safety. The questionnaire included the following topics: • Assumptions on fire loads • Fire resistance requirements • Reaction to fire requirements • Requirements for sprinklers and protective coverings • Effects of glazing in balconies • Use of balconies as exits. Answers to the questionnaire were quite comprehensive. Some of the respondents gave answers only to some parts of the topics, and for these cases information was complemented with information available from other sources and earlier studies.