Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

This paper exposes a number of fallacies about fire resistance in buildings. Much of the conventional wisdom is incorrect. By examining these fallacies, the paper asserts that there is a legitimate role for fire resisting elements in any building fire safety strategy, despite increasing reliance being placed on sprinklers and other active fire protection systems. The paper explores many aspects of fire severity and fire resistance as applied to modern building design, pointing out that there is much more to fire safety than providing buildings with code-specified fire resistance, and that rational consideration of all factors is necessary.