Infrastructure protectionExamining fire safety concerns raised by green buildings
In 2012, the “Fire Safety Challenges of Green Buildings” report assembled a list of seventy-eight green building features and construction elements that could have implications for fire safety. The authors then derived a list of potential hazards associated with the features and elements, including greater flammability, faster burn rate, and increased hindrance to firefighters, as compared with conventional construction. A 3-year project, funded with a $1 million grant from DHS, will enable the further exploration of some of the potential risks and hazards identified in the 2012 report.
With the construction industry adopting a wide array of “green” technologies, materials. and sustainable building practices, a team of fire protection engineering researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) is investigating the fire safety risks associated with green construction.
The WPI team is working with a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which will fund a three-year project aimed at identifying and reducing the potential for firefighter and occupant injuries and deaths that could be associated with unanticipated hazards posed by green building elements. The funding began in August 2013 and runs through July 2016.
A WPI release reports that this research will begin to quantify the fire hazards and risks associated with green building features, identify ways to mitigate those hazards and risks, and prepare the fire service to fight fires in buildings with green features and elements. These are all needs identified by the National Association of State Fire Marshals, the Fire Protection Research Foundation, and the National Fire Service Research Agenda, which are especially interested in understanding and addressing how the challenges of green or sustainable buildings impact firefighter safety.
In 2012, Brian Meacham, associate professor of fire protection engineering at WPI, co-authored Fire Safety Challenges of Green Buildings, a report commissioned by the Fire Protection Research Foundation, the research arm of the National Fire Protection Association. This examination of the impact of sustainable construction techniques and materials on fire safety was the first study to survey the full array of sustainable construction techniques and materials for their fire safety implications.
For the report, Meacham and his team conducted a global literature search and surveyed agencies around the world to assemble a list of seventy-eight green building features and construction elements that could have implications for fire safety. They then derived a list of potential hazards associated with the features and elements, including greater flammability, faster burn rate, and increased hindrance to firefighters, as compared with conventional construction. For example, while lightweight engineered lumber (LEL) uses less material, LEL flooring could present risks to firefighters because of a propensity to collapse under fire conditions more quickly than conventional timber construction. Photovoltaic panels generate green electricity, but a rooftop solar array may pose an ignition hazard, can readily burn once ignited, and may continue to produce electricity as long as the sun is out, posing an electrocution hazard.
