Fire clause requirements and application

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Depending on the proposed design, the engineer/designer may need to consider more than one Building Code clause. The key is to ensure the assessment of applicable Code clause(s) is holistic, and captures all relevant performance clauses that might be affected – some of which might not be immediately obvious.

Objectives – life safety, protection of other property, and firefighting

Clause C1 sets out the three main objectives of the fire clauses, which relate to:

• life safety
• protection of other property
• firefighting operations. 

While these are only objectives and not performance requirements in their own right, they provide the main focus of any alternative solution.

Fire clause performance requirements

The rest of the fire clauses step through a number of requirements for:

• preventing fire occurring (C2)
• limiting fire spread (C3)
• assisting the evacuation of occupants (C4)
• safeguarding firefighters (C5)
• maintaining the stability of the structure (C6).

Fire clause application

An alternative solution can relate to one or more objectives and fire safety clauses. The following table provides assistance for linking the objectives to various fire safety clauses.

For all alternative solution designs, the relevant clauses to be addressed are to be agreed with the key stakeholders through the Fire Engineering Brief process.

Table: Building Code objectives for protection from fire and the relevant performance clauses