NFPA Journal - September/October 2017 - 38
LONDON
CALLING
According to one Grenfell resident
who was interviewed by The New York
Times, the conflagration "burned like a
fire that you pour petrol on." Additional
fire safety issues were present, too.
There were no fire sprinklers (which
aren't required by United Kingdom regulations) or functioning
fire alarms, there was only one
stairwell, and emergency procedures for the tenants included a
"stay put" order unless fire was
inside their apartment unit.
In the weeks following Grenfell, investigators flocked to
similar buildings throughout
Great Britain. Samples of exterior wall assemblies, including
various combinations of metal
composite material (MCM)
panels and insulation, were
removed and subjected to what
have been reported as "government combustibility tests." As a
result of the tests, hundreds of
buildings were declared unsafe,
and thousands of people were
ordered to evacuate their homes.
On July 28, the British government announced there would
be an independent review to
examine "the regulatory system
around the design, construction and on-going management
of buildings in relation to fire
safety; related compliance and
enforcement issues; and international regulation and experience
in this area."
The problem of combustible
exterior wall assemblies isn't
new-fires involving these types of
assemblies have occurred all over the
world, including the United States-but
Britain's recent experience illustrates a
new global urgency behind the issue.
Government officials, safety advocates,
and the media are raising questions
as to the prevalence of combustible
exterior wall assemblies on buildings
worldwide, and what can be done to
prevent potentially catastrophic fires
from occurring.
NFPA hopes to help answer those
questions by making an assortment
of resources available to stakeholders,
including a new risk assessment tool
designed for authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs). Those tools can't arrive
soon enough, experts say. "In many of
our larger cities or jurisdictions, you're
dealing in some cases with quite a few
of these buildings [that could be at
that is inconsistent with most code
language and only points to one component of these assemblies.) Despite
the known concerns, the assemblies are
popular because they can contribute to
energy efficiency for the building, help
prevent rain and moisture penetration, and give buildings a
clean, modern appearance.
To address those concerns,
NFPA is developing a tool
that allows AHJs-specifically,
enforcers-to determine which
buildings in their jurisdictions
are at the highest risk for fires
involving combustible exterior wall assemblies. The tool,
which NFPA hopes to make
available by the end of the year,
will factor in variables such as
building materials, height and
configuration, and whether
fire protection systems like
fire sprinklers are present. The
inventory will also shed light
on which exterior wall systems
containing combustible materials have been deemed safe and
by which fire test procedure.
International engineering
firms Arup and Jensen Hughes
are also involved in the project,
as is an international panel of
technical experts facilitated by
the Fire Protection Research
Foundation (FPRF). Panelists
"were chosen for their technical expertise, and we also tried
to be very global with who we
put on," said Amanda Kimball,
a research director at the FPRF.
"We have perspectives from Asia, the
Middle East, Europe, Australia, and the
United States."
Casey Grant, who heads the FPRF,
explained that the tool won't be
designed to tell AHJs how to fix the
problems, but rather to let them know
if problems exist, and the severity of
the problems. "It's not as simple as
saying, 'this building has a combustible
exterior wall assembly, and this one
doesn't,'" Grant said. "This is all about
developing for enforcers a risk assessment tool to prioritize their inventory."
While its primary audience is AHJs,
the tool will be available to anyone who
THERE WERE NO
FIRE SPRINKLERS
(WHICH AREN'T
REQUIRED BY
UNITED KINGDOM
REGULATIONS)
OR FUNCTIONING
FIRE ALARMS,
THERE WAS ONLY
ONE STAIRWELL,
AND EMERGENCY
PROCEDURES FOR
THE TENANTS
INCLUDED A
'STAY PUT' ORDER
UNLESS FIRE WAS
INSIDE THEIR
APARTMENT UNIT.
38 | NFPA JOURNAL * S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R 2 0 1 7
risk]," said J.C. Harrington, staff vice
president at FM Global. "Maybe in the
hundreds worldwide."
Quantifying the problem
Exterior wall assemblies can have many
different configurations, but a common
arrangement is for plastic foam insulation to be attached to the structure,
separated by a narrow gap from an
outer layer comprised of thin metal
panels sandwiching a plastic core; this
was the configuration believed to be on
Grenfell. (Media accounts commonly
refer to these combustible assemblies as
"flammable exterior cladding," a term
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - September/October 2017
Contents
NFPA Journal - September/October 2017 - BB1
NFPA Journal - September/October 2017 - BB2
NFPA Journal - September/October 2017 - Cover1
NFPA Journal - September/October 2017 - Cover2
NFPA Journal - September/October 2017 - 1
NFPA Journal - September/October 2017 - Contents
NFPA Journal - September/October 2017 - 3
NFPA Journal - September/October 2017 - 4
NFPA Journal - September/October 2017 - 5
NFPA Journal - September/October 2017 - 6
NFPA Journal - September/October 2017 - 7
NFPA Journal - September/October 2017 - 8
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NFPA Journal - September/October 2017 - 15
NFPA Journal - September/October 2017 - 16
NFPA Journal - September/October 2017 - 16a
NFPA Journal - September/October 2017 - 16b
NFPA Journal - September/October 2017 - 17
NFPA Journal - September/October 2017 - 18
NFPA Journal - September/October 2017 - 19
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