Many businesses may sometimes feel that they are encumbered by a great deal of Health and Safety legislation, including Fire Safety and the Building Regulations. However, legislation to control fire safety is certainly not new. Current statutory provisions in the United Kingdom have evolved from measures introduced slowly over many centuries. Early attempts were concerned mainly with minimizing the hazards from fire and its subsequent spread from building to building.
THE MIDDLE AGES
The idea that buildings should offer some resistance to the destructive power of fire has its origin from the distant past of most developed countries. Most of the houses in England in the medieval days were made of timber filled with wattle and daub. The roofs were thatched. In almost every town, these buildings were built closely together in congested conditions, often overhanging narrow streets. Any outbreak of fire could spread easily. In these days buildings were crude, simple and generally no more than two storey’s in height. Most people would have no difficulties escaping from fire. However, as these buildings were often huddled together, a fire starting amongst them could destroy them all rendering the whole township homeless.
Most houses had straw covered floors, a thatched roof and a hollowed out timber log to act as a chimney for a fire located in the middle of the room. Not surprisingly many fires used to occur but especially at night and this is still the case today. William the Conqueror required all fires and lights to be extinguished at night. Apparently the most practical way to do this was to place a metal cover over the fire so excluding the air. The Norman word for cover was Couvert Few, which became Curfew. Nowadays this expression is better known as keeping people in after dark other than lights out after dark.
Henry Fitz-Ailwyn, Mayor of London in 1199 made the first recorded attempt to introduce legislation for the control of the spread of fire. This required houses to be built of stone and thatched roofs were not permitted, but there was no means of enforcing these requirements. However, this was to change a few years later.
In the year 1212 a disastrous fire broke out in London and it is said that some 3,000 people died. King John issued an ordinance which governed the construction of ale houses (Perhaps the first licensing laws). It also required that all wooden houses in Cheapside had to be pulled down or altered. No new roofs were permitted in thatch and any existing thatched roofs were likely to be demolished if not plastered over. This was probably one of the earliest measures of social protection and it is likely, originally, to be intended more for the protection of property than life. The covering of roofs to restrict the spread of fire is still covered today by Building Regulation Approved document B (Fire Safety) under Requirement B4 External Fire Spread)
THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
Although various Building Regulations had existed in London for centuries, it was still full of closely spaced wooden houses. The Great Fire of London in 1666 destroyed five sixths of the city. At that time, London housed more than one tenth of the countries population and more than half of its wealth. After this, London acquired its first complete code of Building Regulations. Charles II issued a proclamation of which the basic principles were:-
The walls of new buildings were to be constructed of brick or stone and the main streets were to be wide enough to prevent the spread of fire. This concept still applies today and is controlled by Building Regulation Approved document B (Fire Safety) Requirements B3 Internal Fire Spread and B4 External Fire Spread.
THE EIGHTEENTH AND NINETEENTH CENTURY
Urban development would soon give rise to taller more extensive building and this offered an increased risk to life and property. Theatres had been taking many fire victims for years. There was of course, no electrical lighting at the time and illumination relied on candles and torches with naked flames, naturally increasing the fire risk. 1794 saw the introduction of the fire safety curtain in the Drury Lane Theatre. This would be lowered if anything on the stage caught fire. This eventually led to the concept that high fire risks should be separated from the rest of the building and people to facilitate features to escape. But it also had another effect. It would stop the show, break the public interest and so leave them no reason to wish to stay and see a bit more of the play expecting that someone would put out the fire. Perhaps this lesson was lost during the fire at Bradford City Foot ball club in 1985. The game continued while the stand burned and many people did not try to leave until it was too late.
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
In modern times we have an inherent system of controls designed to ensure that buildings are constructed to reasonable standards concerning Health and Safety including a means of escape from fire. The main controlling factor is the maximum distance a person is allowed to travel in a building or room with a particular use. Longer travel distances are allowed when escape is possible in more than one direction. Many of the basic principles that were formulated centuries ago are still applied today. But some buildings do not easily lend them selves to the conventional methods of control.
In recent years, a new method of approach has begun to emerge, ‘Fire Engineering’. This exploits much of today’s modern fire safety technology such as automatic fire detection systems, sprinkler systems and smoke extraction/ventilation systems to offer a performance based solution to a particular problem. Examples of this can be found in almost every enclosed shopping mall.
In an ordinary street, people in the vicinity of a building that may be on fire, will generally be unaffected because the hot gases and smoke are allowed to discharge into the street, rise upwards and disperse into the atmosphere. Think of an enclosed shopping mall as an ordinary street with a roof over between the buildings. The roof will trap the hot smoky gases and the void will fill from the top down. This problem is usually overcome by a combination of sprinkler systems which slow down fire growth and ventilation openings at or near the apex of the roof, which allow the smoke to escape, thereby simulating conditions which are compatible with an ordinary open street. Sometimes, large extractor fans are used to expel the smoke. The next time you visit such premises take a minute to stand in the concourse (the space that allows you to walk under cover between the shops) and look up towards the glass roof. You should be able to see some form of opening vents. The large void that you may notice acts as a smoke reservoir.
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