Is your building a death trap?

Be it your workplace or your home, a building can actually help save you during a fire. That is if it was built right.

There are safety requirements in place that the architects and builders need to adhere to make a building safe for people to reside or carry out their daily activities in.

LeeSiong Architect principal architect Chong Lee Siong said there are ample laws and regulations in Malaysia to ensure the planning or construction of buildings fulfil safety requirements; however, we still hear of buildings being burnt down because they do not comply with regulations or do not have fire safety certificates.

To close the gap between the implementation and enforcement of the law, homeowners and people in general should know some of these fire safety requirements in a building so they can rest assured that the building in which they reside or work in is safe or can allow them ease of escape in the event of a fire.

* Urgent need to spread fire-safety knowledge
* Are we living dangerously?
* The cost of fires
* Steps to keep our homes safe from fire
* Electricity — friend or foe?
* Burning questions
* Concerns over enforcement on fire safety regulations

“First of all, a building has to be designed for people to get out of the building safely, if a fire breaks out,” Chong told the audience during his presentation titled “So, your home was built with fire safety in mind?” at the EdgeProp.my Symposium 2017 “Is your home a fire hazard?” on Oct 14.

The event was organised by EdgeProp.my and presented by Gamuda Land. Nippon Paint Malaysia was the supporting sponsor. The event was also supported by The Edge Malaysia.

He cited four main principles for fire safety during a fire in a building:

1. Evacuation

Evacuation is the first and most important principle in building design. The emergency exits need to be incorporated in the building design from the beginning.

For instance, in a condominium design, there must be a minimum of two staircase exits for every floor with fire-rated walls to ensure the residents can
evacuate in a short time.

2. Containment

The second element is containment of the fire. The units or spaces within the building should be designed to prevent the fire from spreading to other places or another unit.

Chong noted that the Uniform Building By-laws 1984 has clear guidelines and legal requirements on building safety that architects, developers and homeowners must comply with to ensure the building fulfils fire safety requirements.

These measures include fire-rated party walls that separate two units. In case of a blaze in one house or unit, the wall can keep it from spreading to the unit next door.

Besides this, for landed houses, there are also legal requirements regarding physical distances between units or even the maximum length of a row of houses (for instance, terraced houses).

For detached houses, the physical distance between the house to the front gate and back door is at least 10ft — this space is to prevent the fire from spreading next door.

For semidees, the two units are separated by a fire-rated party wall and the physical distance from the house to the front and back is 10ft.

As for terraced houses, the maximum length of one row is 300ft and each unit must have a fire-rated party wall that can prevent the fire from spreading to the next unit.

3. Suppression

Thirdly, a well-designed fire-safe building will have active intervention fire suppression elements, which means there will be equipment that enables the residents to suppress the fire to prevent it from spreading.

The suppression equipment could be in the form of fire extinguishers for different types of fire and fire blankets.

Chong said every home should have fire extinguishers at hand. The ABC dry powder type of fire extinguishers is for fires on burnt solids while the CO2 type is for fires caused by electrical leakages.

Fire extinguishers also need to be examined every year to check whether they are functioning well.

4. Rescue

Lastly, the element of rescue in the external and internal design of a building or development enables fire fighters to carry out their rescue operations efficiently and effectively.

Externally, the design of the building or landed housing area needs to include the access to proper external sources of water such as hydrants, lakes, ponds, pools, rivers and fire tenders. The external water source is important and needs to be maintained from time to time, especially fire hydrants.

“The fire engine has limited water source. It is essentially a giant water pump but it may not be enough. If the hydrants are damaged, it will delay the fire fighting process as fire fighters would then need to look for other water sources,” he added.

Internally, the building needs to have a well-designed fire-fighting access lobby and a Bomba (Fire and Rescue Department) lift to enable fire fighters to get into the building.

“If your home is built from quality materials, and the building is certified by Bomba or the respective authorities, it would have fulfilled these four main principles. Then, I would say the building you are in is built with fire safety in mind,” Chong concluded.

This story first appeared in EdgeProp.my pullout on Oct 20, 2017. Download EdgeProp.my pullout here for free.