Passive fire protection is an important element of any fire protection strategy. It plays a vital and increasingly important role in safeguarding people, as well as in limiting damage to buildings and their contents from fire and smoke.

The purpose of passive fire protection is:

• Limiting the spread of fire, heat and smoke by containing it in a single fire department in the area of its manifestation
• Protecting escape routes and providing vital escape time for residents and the necessary time for firefighters
• Protection of critical structural elements of the building
• Protection of a building’s assets

Therefore, passive fire protection products work, in combination with active fire protection materials, such as sprinkler systems and fire extinguishers, as well as with training sessions in fire safety for the building's residents.

The choice between active and passive systems, or the combination of the two, is influenced by the possible size and type of fire, the duration of the required protection, the equipment or structure that requires protection, the availability of water and the time required for evacuation.

Passive Fire Protection Products

The requirements for passive fire protection have become increasingly complex in recent years, partly due to pressures to improve thermal insulation and reduce energy costs.

Passive Fire Safety products installed in a building to improve fire safety include:

1. Fireproof doors
2. Fireproof paints for cables and pipelines
3. Fireproof materials for firefighting (fire resistant panels, foams, mastics, pillows, collars, etc.)
4. Fireproof paints that can be applied by spraying or painting to the structural elements
5. Fire Curtains & Fire Dampers
6. Fire protection boxes or closets
7. Fire-resistant walls, floors, ceilings and pipes

Passive fire protection products can be either installed during construction or added afterwards. The products must be suitable for any building and protection target and must be properly maintained. They must have been tested, evaluated and certified by reputable certification bodies. It goes without saying that the installation must be done by a certified working team, in order to ensure the proper installation and maintenance of the materials.

So why bother with passive fire protection, since you have all the means for active fire protection? And vice versa. Because, quite simply, a good active fire protection system, installed for fire-fighting, may not always work the way it is designed to operate. Sprinklers may not work due to poor maintenance of the fire extinguishing pump, empty/punctured water storage tank, water supply problems due to ice or even insufficient water pressure. On the other hand, passive fire protection uses systems that help control and prevent the spread of fire/smoke. However, it does not take any kind of action, such as firefighting. Therefore, the means for active and passive fire protection, synergize during the fire and it is a mistake to think that one sole medium separately covers or is equivalent to the other. Both active and passive fire protection systems can control and extinguish fires. Together they help protect human life and property.

What they are and how they work: they form a cohesive floating "blanket" over flammable and explosive liquids, in order to extinguish the fire by blocking oxygen and by cooling the burning material. They also prevent their resurgence, because they do not allow the formation of flammable vapors and have the ability to attach to surfaces, which provides a degree of protection to possible flash outbreaks, due to an adjacent fire.

Alternatively, foams are used to suppress fires and can extinguish flammable liquids and solid fuels in four different ways:

• They penetrate between the air and the fuel surface, depriving the fire of oxygen
• They delay the release of vapors from the fuel surface
• They cool the surface of the fuel and the surrounding metal surfaces
• They deprive oxygen from flammable vapors

Each type of firefighting foam is specifically designed for applications ranging from forest fires (an additive to the water of aerial and terrestrial means) to large high-risk fires (aviation, chemical, defense, energy, marine, mining, petroleum, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, pipeline and industrial solvents).

Firefighting foams are divided into two classification categories A and B.

Buildings are divided into fire compartments, in order to delay the spread of the fire from one area to another. These fire partitions are usually connected to each other by fireproof doors that allow people to move inside the building. They have two important functions in a fire. When they close, they form a fireblock to stop the fire from spreading, and when they open, they provide an escape route. A well-planned installation of the fireproof door will delay the spread of fire and smoke without being an obstacle to the movement of people and goods.

They are divided into two main categories depending on the degree / time of fire resistance, i.e. 60 and 120 minutes.

There are three main reasons for buying and installing security lighting and safety signage:

• Because building construction regulations require it
• It is required by law (in accordance with Greek and international standards) and,
• To meet the standards of the insurance company.

However, the main reason that everyone should remember is that the proper installation of safety lighting & signage, along with their proper maintenance, saves lives.

The correct selection and installation of a safety sign or a safety luminaire does not prevent a fire from starting or determines its evolution. It will not affect the cost of material damage that can be caused by the fire. However, it is vital that the engineer and the owner evaluate properly when designing and procuring safety lighting & signage, to choose the most appropriate and not the cheapest, since this equipment is used for protecting human lives and not properties.