What Does A Fire Engineering Consultant Do?

Consultants focus their attention on human behaviors that occur during a blaze. The fire engineering consultant will assist with establishing a tenable environment where all people in the presence of the fire can be safely evacuated. Being a consultant requires an immense amount of discipline. Consultants must put on a variety of hats in order to properly perform their jobs.

These consultants are responsible for establishing a proper fire detection protocol, assisting with active fire protection, passive fire protection, establishing evacuation protocols, and helping to mitigate smoke and manage it. Other areas that consultants assist with are fire modelling, prevention programs, and performing risk analysis of the location they are surveying.

Establishing A Fire Detection Protocol In Your Property

There are many common ways to detect a fire. Many adults are familiar with the various products that they can use to alert them of a fire brewing. Fire detectors are special pieces of equipment that are designed to recognize fire phenomena. Devices are designed to pick up on smoke, gas, ultraviolet lights, and heat.

Smoke detectors are one of the most popular types of fire detection products that are available to the general public. These smoke detectors in dwellings, serve as standalone items. When they catch a whiff of smoke, the detector will sound an alarm informing anyone within the nearby vicinity that there is a fire phenomena occurring. In commercial buildings, fire detection devices are normally modeled in an entire fire alarm system.

The system will incorporate several devices that are designed to recognize fire phenomena. The automatic devices that are normally deployed by corporate businesses can be one or more of the following: smoke detectors, heat detectors, fire and gas detector, or a flame detector. Obviously, it is based on the building owners preference what type of detector that they wish to employ.

Assisting With Active Fire Protection

Active fire protection differs in comparison to passive fire protection. With active fire protection, there are certain systems and items that are employed that require motion and response to the devices to work. There are five different categories of active fire protection.

These categories include: fire suppression, sprinkler systems, fire detection, hypoxic fire prevention, and construction and maintenance. Suppression reviews over the various ways that fires can be extinguished. There are two ways, either through manual intervention or automatically on their own. Sprinkler systems are a device that can be employed to prevent the spread of fires. Detection items are your basic smoke detectors.

Passive Fire Protection Assistance

Working with a fire engineering consultant, building owners will receive passive fire protection assistance along with active fire assistance. Both of these protocols are important and must be employed for the safety of the building that a commercial entity resides in. Passive fire protection is important when it comes to protecting structures and promoting fire safety within the building.

Passive fire protection differs from active protection in the extensive approach that it takes. Passive fire protection focuses on containing fires and slowing their spread through utilizing the building as a barrier. With this type of model, the walls, floors, and the doors of the building will be equipped with fire-resistant materials.

There are many different types of fire-retardant materials that can be used in a building to prevent the spread of a fire, if it were to occur. Some of the things that can be incorporated in the design of the building to safeguard it from spreading fires include: fire-resistant glass and walls, fire stops, grease ducts, special enclosures, and occupancy separators. The fire engineering consultant will be responsible for communicating and working with architects to ensure the proper passive protocols are set into place.

Establishing Evacuation Protocols

One of the main reasons why people get hurt whenever there is a fire in a building is because they panic. When you fail to plan, you plan to fail. A fire engineering consultant will work with business and building owners to establish proper evacuation protocols for their center. It is vital that in the event that a fire does occur, that the people in the building know what to do.

Panic can only make things worse. Therefore, it is important that there are proper evacuation protocols set into place. Emergency exits should be highlighted, informing people of where to go. Fire lifts should also be installed along the outside of the building to help people who are on higher levels, escape the area safely.

Controlling and Managing The Spread of Smoke

Most adults are aware that in many circumstances where a fire breaks out, the fire is not what hurts the people in its presence, instead it is the smoke. Smoke inhalation can cause a person to become disorientated and pass out. In grim situations, an individual exposed to a fire will pass out because of the accumulation of smoke, and be unable to evacuate the building successfully.

A fire engineering consultant can help building and business owners control and manage how smoke spreads within their building. This is a vital component to any fire detection program that is employed. While working with consultant business owners will be informed of the proper steps to take to eliminate smoke in their building, either through ventilation systems or other means.

What Is The Purpose of A Fire Engineering Consultant?

Owning a building or business of your own is an incredible feat. It is important that the building you own and operate out of is safe for anyone that enters its premises. This is why it is vital to have an expert, such as a consultant come by and perform a risk analysis and ensure that proper fire safety protocols are employed and adhered to.