Making Green Buildings Safe for Firefighters

Green buildings may present special challenges for firefighters because of new technologies, building materials, and building techniques. That’s the concern Fire Safety and Green Buildings—Bridging the Gap, a new website at www.GreenBuildingFireSafety.org developed by the National Association of State Fire Marshals (NASFM); a handbook on the topic has also been released.

The project started with the premise that “fire safety is green, because any fire that takes place is doing really bad things to the environment,” said Karen Deppa, director of external relations for NASFM. Funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the new resource is the culmination of a year of research, begun by interns and continued by an advisory board that includes representatives from the International Code Council, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the Green Building Initiative, among others.

Some in the green building industry have raised concern about NASFM’s former connection to Peter Sparber, a lobbyist with connections to the tobacco industry who has campaigned aggressively for widespread use and approval of flame retardants. According to Deppa, NASFM has not been connected to Sparber for several years, and "does not promote flame retardants over non-flame-retardant approaches." Ed Comeau, founder of the Center for Campus Fire Safety and a board member on the International Association of Fire Chiefs’ (IAFC) Fire and Life Safety section, says that the motives of the firefighting industry are pure. “We want to engage early in the process so we’re not seen as the bad guys,” he told EBN, noting that both NASFM and IAFC were involved in the International Code Council’s development of a green building code. He says of flame retardants, “They’re necessary and vital to fire safety, but we don’t want to create a bigger problem through cancer and everything else.”

Two of the main issues addressed by NASFM’s guidelines are light construction and solar installations—both of which have been the subject of regulatory attention. In May 2010, officials in Wilmette, Illinois, passed legislation requiring fire sprinklers in new homes built with lightweight construction and in all commercial buildings. The town already had an ordinance requiring placards in commercial buildings warning firefighters of the presence of engineered-wood trusses and joist assemblies. And a 2008 Underwriters Laboratories study showed that homes built with dimensional lumber last longer in fire than those built with engineered-wood systems. Engineered-wood systems are considered environmentally friendly because they limit the use of large-dimensional lumber that comes from old-growth forests. (They’re also ubiquitous in all light construction—not just “green.”)

The fire-safety concerns with photovoltaic (PV) panels stem from both the placement of the panels, which can limit firefighter access, and the electrical connections, which can remain live even when power from the electrical grid is cut off. In April 2010, an inverter box connected to a photovoltaic array on a house in San Diego, California, caught fire. Although the homeowner cut the power feeding into the grid, electricity from the photovoltaic panels kept the fire going until an electrician was able to cut the wires leading from the panels to the inverter box. Having a cut-off switch on those wires would have allowed firefighters to stop the fire earlier, according to coverage in North County Times, and the fire led authorities to consider changing fire safety codes for solar installations. PV panels also pose a threat to firefighters who climb onto roofs to cut vent holes for smoke; since they continue to produce electricity even when not connected to the grid, they pose an electrocution hazard.

Oregon is in the process of drafting a solar energy code that would establish fire-safety measures such as setbacks and placement requirements for rooftop panels as well as cut-off switches for the wires leading from the panels to inverter boxes. The code also creates standards for panel assembly and installation, requires inspections of the systems, and gives firefighters official authority to disconnect the systems during emergencies.

Joe Wiehagen, an energy engineer at the National Association of Home Builders' Research Center, notes that fire issues are covered well in building codes, but designers may need to do additional research when dealing with green building technologies and materials. "Designers and green building professionals may be challenged with adapting new materials to the specification of the codes, for example, for rated wall assemblies that may require testing to ensure the specified performance," he told EBN. Wiehagen notes that in addition to PV systems, insulation designs that use multiple layers of foam present an challenging area in existing codes, which may not have caught up with current usage.

NASFM’s website and guidelines offer advice for incorporating fire safety into green designs, including:

• balancing emergency access with pedestrian-friendly community design by creating fire-equipment staging areas and clearly marking surfaces that are not passable by heavy trucks;

• planning landscaping to account for plant growth and the potential for spreading fires;

• installing any foam installation according to the manufacturer’s directions, and ensuring that firefighters are aware of any foam facades;

• ensuring that vegetated roofs are designed to allow firefighter access by including perimeter setbacks and pathways;

• integrating automatic window controls with fire alarm and sprinkler systems; and

• ensuring proper support for rainwater cisterns to avoid structural failure and identifying underground cisterns for firetrucks.

– Allyson Wendt

For more information:

Fire Safety and Green Buildings
www.greenbuildingfiresafety.org

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IMAGE CREDITS:
1. Photo: Sevag Pogharian

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