User Manual

5
Siemens Switzerland Ltd
Building Technologies Division
1.1. Executive summary
This document provides an overview on the necessity and difficulties of providing adequate fire protection in
historical buildings and museums. A comprehensive fire protection system is essential to ensure personal safety
and damage mitigation in case of fire. New museums and libraries will automatically be built to comply with the
local standards, codes of practice and insurance guidelines. However, the massive use of wood and other
traditional materials in the construction of historical buildings, together with obsolete electrical installations and
equipment often found in such buildings, present a high fire risk. The challenge is finding an optimum balance
between providing maximum fire protection on the one hand, while maintaining the authenticity and character of
the building concerned on the other. By using a methodical approach, based on standard fire risk assessment
precepts, a consensus decision can be reached, which best fits the expectations of the fire safety engineer and the
heritage protection specialist.
Both passive and active fire protection measures are discussed, with the emphasis being mainly on the technical
fire protection possibilities best suited to applications in historical buildings and museums.
Fire detection
The main priorities are to minimize any impact on the structure of the buildings during the installation and
maintenance of the proposed fire protection infrastructure and preserve the aesthetics of the structure and décor.
Appropriate technical solutions which go a long way to fulfilling these conditions include ASD (Aspirating Smoke
Detection) systems and wireless smoke detection networks.
The ASD systems ensure the earliest possible fire detection as they are sensitive to very low concentrations of
smoke. Equally importantly, they can be made practically invisible to the naked eye, as the air is continuously
sampled by drawing air into a smoke detection chamber through a number of very small holes in a concealed
piping network.
In environments which tolerate only a minimum of installation wiring, the wireless detection networks offer an
excellent solution. Such systems have now reached a high degree of technical development, providing highly
reliable mesh network technology with very long battery lifetimes. A combination of wireless detectors and linear
smoke detectors can provide an excellent solution for large rooms with high ornate ceilings, which are often
present in historically sensitive buildings.
Alarming, smoke control and evacuation
Smoke presents the greatest danger to life in the case of a fire and all possible measures should be taken to
prevent it spreading throughout the building. One of the main factors contributing to the rapid spread of smoke
and fire throughout historical buildings is the presence of hidden voids. High priority must be given to the
stopping of feedthroughs that were created during the installation of electrical cables and ventilation ducting.
These installations were often carried out in an era when the consequences for fire development were
considerably less well understood.
Compartmentalization is the key to restricting smoke and fire to the immediate vicinity of the area where an
incipient fire was initially detected. The subdivision of roof voids (which in many cases extend over an entire
building) is an important preventative measure and the automatic closing of doors in the case of a fire is strongly
recommended.
Early detection combined with the efficient suppression of embryonic fires means that evacuation procedures are
rarely necessary. In the event that a building evacuation does become necessary, however, it must be conducted
quickly and efficiently. An appropriate infrastructure (alarming, exit route signage, etc.) is essential and care must
be taken to ensure that escape routes are clearly indicated and kept free from blockages at all times. Considerable
importance should also be given to staff training, regular fire drills, and the strict enforcement of internal fire
safety regulations (e.g. no smoking in any area, careful storage of flammable materials, etc.). The fire safety
procedures should also be reviewed on a regular basis.