Building Fires and Tenability

27th June 2020

The term fire behaviour is used to describe the characteristics of fire growth and fire propagation, where fire is a chemical process of oxidation releasing large amount of heat. Fire behaviour depends on the physical state and distribution of fuel which can be solid, liquid, gaseous or combined. There are phases of fire during its growth known as pre and post flashover. Pre-lashover provides information on fire growth rates and it’s temperatures which influence the life safety of the occupant and his safe evacuation. Post-lashover fires produce flow of hot smoke, toxic gases and high temperatures influencing the structural stability and behave differently depending on the type of building construction. In a building fire the main hazard to the occupant is exposure to heat from the fire and in assessment of hazards. It provides a revival and tenability limits for exposures to heat and gases.