Technical Booklet E Fire Safety·Page 17·0.12

Compartmentation

Buildings are subdivided into compartments separated by fire-resisting walls and/or floors to prevent rapid fire spread that could trap occupants and to reduce the risk of large fires affecting occupants, firefighting personnel, and neighbouring buildings.

Compartmentation – the spread of fire within a building can be restricted by subdividing it into compartments separated from one another by walls and/or floors of fire-resisting construction. The objectives are to prevent rapid fire spread, which could trap occupants of the building, and to reduce the chance of a fire becoming large, on the basis that a large fire is more dangerous, not only to occupants and firefighting personnel, but to people in the vicinity of the building.

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