Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

It is argued that sprinklers and fire resistance can be used in combination but as they serve different functions they are not freely interchangeable. This note presents a model which shows how to trade off one against the other. The economic optimum combination is that which minimises the sum of costs and expected loss. A major cost parameter for fire protection systems is identified for which few data are available at present. A diagram is presented which shows the principle under which one system or the other is preferred in isolation, where a combination of systems is preferred, or where no protection is justified.