Fire protection is a central aspect of building safety. Fire protection pursues three protection goals in order to protect human life and minimize damage in the event of a fire. This blog article provides an overview of the protection goals in fire protection and the associated fire protection measures.
Protection goals in fire protection
Fire protection in buildings pursues three central protection goals, which are anchored in Section 14 of the Model Building Code (MBO):
“Building structures must be arranged, erected, modified and maintained in such a way that the development of a fire and the spread of fire and smoke (fire propagation) is prevented and, in the event of a fire, the rescue of people and animals and effective extinguishing work are possible.”
Protection against fire and smoke
The first protection goal is to prevent fires from starting and spreading. Structural measures such as the division of buildings into fire and smoke compartments and the use of fire-resistant building materials can contribute to this. Technical system solutions such as smoke and heat extraction systems can also limit the spread of fire.
Rescue of people and animals
The second protection objective in fire protection is to enable people and animals to rescue themselves and others. This requires safe, adequately dimensioned, illuminated and marked escape and rescue routes inside and outside buildings. Special regulations apply to special buildings.
Effective extinguishing work
The third protection objective is intended to serve defensive fire protection, i.e. the extinguishing work of the fire department. To this end, buildings must be easily accessible to the fire department, their stability must be guaranteed for a certain period of time in the event of a fire and extinguishing systems or extinguishing water pipes must be available. Smoke extraction measures may also be required.
These diverse fire protection measures can be assigned to preventive or defensive fire protection. The interaction of these measures makes it possible to achieve the protection goals.