Building bylaws and codes

Class -6
B.Arch Vii sem
FIRE PROTECTION AND FIRE SAFETY REQUIREMENTS

• Fireprotection for the multi-storeyed buildings (high rise buildings)

and the buildings which are of 15 mt. and above in height and low

occupancies of categories such as Assembly, Institutional.,

Educational (more than two storeyed and built-up area exceeds 1000

sq. mt., Business (where plot area exceeds 500 sq. mt., Mercantile

(where aggregate covered area exceeds 750 sq.mt., Hotel, Hospital,

Nursing Homes, Underground Complexes, Industrial Storage,

Meeting / Banquet Halls, Hazardous Occupancies.

PROCEDURE FOR CLEARANCE FROM FIRE SERVICE

• The concerned Authority shall refer the building plans to the Chief Fire

Officer, Fire Service for obtaining clearance in respect of building

identified as above.

• The Authority shall furnish three sets of complete building plans along

with prescribed fee to Chief Fire Officer, after ensuring that the

proposals are in line with Master Plan/Zonal Plan of the area.

• The plans shall be clearly marked and indicate the complete fire

protection arrangements and the means of access/escape for the proposed

building with suitable legend along with standard signs and symbols on

the drawings.
PROCEDURE FOR CLEARANCE FROM FIRE SERVICE …

• The same shall be duly signed/certified by a licensed Fire

Consultant/Architect.

• The information regarding fire safety measures shall be furnished in a

questionnaire (Annexure ‘D’) along with details.

• The Chief Fire Officer shall examine these plans to ensure that they are in

accordance with the provisions of fire safety and means of escape as per

these bye- laws and shall forward two sets of plans duly signed for

implementation to the concerned building sanctioning Authority.

• After completion of fire fighting installations as approved and duly tested and

certified by the licensed Architect/Fire Consultant, the Owner/ Builder of the

building shall approach the Chief Fire Officer through the concerned

Authority for obtaining clearance from fire safety and means of escape point

of view.

• The concerned Authority shall ensure that clearance from Chief Fire Officer

has been obtained for the building before granting the completion certificate.
• On receipt of the above request, the Chief Fire Officer shall issue the

No Objection Certificate from fire safety and means of escape point

of view after satisfying himself that the entire fire protection

measures are implemented and functional as per approved plans.

• Any deficiencies observed during the course of inspection shall be

communicated to the concerned Authority for rectification and a

copy of the same shall be forwarded to the concerned building

owner /builder.
 RENEWAL OF FIRE CLEARANCE

On the basis of undertaking given by the Architect /Authorized Fire

Consultant, the Chief Fire Officer shall renew the fire clearance in respect

of the following buildings on annual basis:-

1) Public entertainment and assembly

2) Hospitals
3) Hotels
4) Under ground shopping complex
FEE

• For augmentation of fire service facilities with fire service for

effecting rescue/fire fighting operation in high rise building,

fee payable to Chief Fire Officer, Fire Service by the

applicant (S) along with sets of plans for obtaining the No

Objection Certificate shall be as prescribed by the Authority.

FIRE CONSULTANT

• The Architect of the project will be responsible for making

provisions for fire protection and fire fighting measure as

provided and for that he may consult an expert in this field,

as in case of other professional for structural, sanitary and

others.
GENERAL

• The Chief Fire Officer, Fire Service may insist on suitable

provisions in the building from fire safety and means of escape

point of view depending on the occupancy, height or on account of

new developments creating special fire hazard, in addition to the

provision of these building bye laws and part IV (Fire Protection)

of National Building Code of India

MEANS OF ACCESS

• Type of Exits
• Number of Size of Exits
• Arrangements of Exits
• Occupant Load
• Capacity of Exit
• Staircase Requirements
• Minimum Width Provision for Stairways
• Minimum Width Provision for Passageway/Corridors
• Doorways
• Stairways
Fire Escapes or External Stairs:

a) Fire escape shall not be taken into account while calculating the number

of staircases for a building.

b) All fire escapes shall be directly connected to the ground.

c)Entrance to the fire escape shall be separate and remote from internal

staircase.

d)The route to fire escape shall be free of obstructions at all times except the

doorway leading to the fire escape which shall have the required fire

resistance.

e)Fire escape shall be constructed of non-combustible materials.

Fire Escapes or External Stairs:

f)Fire escape stairs shall have straight flight not less than 125 cm wide

with 25 cm treads and risers not more than 19 cm.

g)Handrails shall be at a height not less than 100 cm.

h)Fire escape staircase in the mercantile, business, assembly, hotel

buildings above 24 mt. height shall be a fire tower and in such a

case width of the same shall not be less than the width of the main

staircase. No combustible material shall be allowed in the fire

tower.
Spiral Stairs

a)The use of spiral staircase shall be limited to low occupant

load and to a building height 9 mt.

b)A spiral stair shall not be less than 150 cm in diameter and

shall be designed to give the adequate headroom.

Staircase Enclosures

• The external enclosing walls of the staircase shall be of the brick or

the R.C.C. construction having the fire resistance of not less than

two hours.

• All enclosed staircases shall have access through self-closing door of

one-hour fire resistance.

• These shall be single swing doors opening in the direction of the

escape.

• The door shall be fitted with the check action door closers.
• The staircase enclosures on the external wall of the building shall be

ventilated to the atmosphere at each landing.

• Permanent vent at the top equal to the 5% of the cross sectional area of

the enclosure and openable sashes at each floor level with area equal to

1 to 15% of the cross sectional area of the enclosure on external shall be

provided.

• The roof of the shaft shall be at least 1 mt. above the surrounding roof.
• There shall be no glazing or the glass bricks in any internal closing

wall of staircase.

• If the staircase is in the core of the building and cannot be

ventilated at each landing, a positive of 5-mm. w.g. by an

electrically operated blower/blowers shall be maintained.

• The mechanism for pressurizing the staircase shaft shall be so

installed that the same shall operate automatically on fire alarm

system/sprinkler system and be provided with manual operation

facilities.
Ramps

a)Ramps of slope of not more than 1 in 10 may be substituted for and

shall comply with all the applicable requirements of all required

stairways as to enclosure capacity and limiting dimensions.

Larger slopes shall be provided for special uses but in no case

greater than 1 in 8.

For all slopes exceeding 1 in 10 and where the use is such as to

involve danger of slipping, the ramp shall be surfaced with

approved non-slipping material.

b)The minimum width of the ramps in the Hospitals shall be 2.4 mt. and in

the basement using car parking shall be 6.0 mt.

c)Handrails shall be provided on both sides of the ramp.

d)Ramp shall lead directly to outside open space at ground level or

courtyards of safe place.

e)For building above 24.0 mt. in height access to ramps from any floor of the

building shall be through smoke fire check door.

f) In case of nursing homes, hospitals etc. area exceeding 300 sq.mt. at each

floor one of the exit facility shall be a ramp of not less than 2.4 mt. in

width.
PROVISION OF LIFTS

a)Provision of the lifts shall be made for all multi-storeyed building having a

height of 15.0 mt. and above.

b)All the floors shall be accessible for 24.0 hrs. by the lift. The lift provided in

the buildings shall not be considered as a means of escape in case of

emergency.

c)Grounding switch at ground floor level to enable the fire service to ground

the lift car in case of emergency shall also be provided.

d)The lift machine room shall be separate and no other machinery be

installed therein.
Fire Lift

• The lift shall have a floor area of not less than 1.4 sq.mt, It shall have

a loading capacity of not less than 545 kg. (8 persons lift) with

automatic closing doors.

• The electric supply shall be on a separate service from electric supply

mains in a building and the cables run in a route safe from fire, that

is within a lift shaft.

• Lights and fans in the elevator having wooden paneling or sheet steel

construction shall be operated on 24-volt supply.

Fire lift…

• In case of failure of normal electric supply, it shall

automatically switchover to the alternate supply.

• The words 'F1RE LIFT' shall be conspicuously

displayed in fluorescent paint on the lift landing doors at

each floor level.

• The speed of the fire lift shall be such that it can reach to the

top floor from ground level within one minute

Lift Enclosure/lift

General requirements shall be as follows:

• Walls of lift enclosures shall have a fire rating of two hours Lift shafts
shall have a vent at the top of area not less than 0.2 sq.mt.
• Lift motor room shall be located preferably on top of the shaft and
separated from the shaft by the floor of the room.
• Landing door in lift enclosures shall have a fire resistance of not less
than one hour.
• The number of lifts in one lift bank shall not exceed four. A wall of
two hours fire rating shall separate individual shafts in a bank.
• Lift car door shall have a fire resistance rating of 1 hour.
• For buildings 15.0 mt. and above in height, collapsible gates shall not be

permitted for lifts and shall have solid doors with fire resistance of at least one

hour.

• A sign shall be posted and maintained on every floor at or near the lift

indicating that in case of fire, occupants shall use the stairs unless instructed

otherwise.

• The sign shall also contain a plan for each floor showing the location of the

stairways.

• Floor marking shall be done at each floor on the wall in front of the lift-landing

door.

• Alternate power supply shall be provided in all the lifts.

AIR-CONDITIONING
a) Air- conditioning system should be installed and maintained so as to minimise the

danger of spread of fire, smokes of fumes thereby from one floor of fire area to

another or from outside into any occupied building or structure.

b) Air -Conditioning systems circulating air to more than one floor area should be

provided with dampers designed to closed automatically in case of fire and thereby

prevent spread of fire or smoke.

Such a system should also be provided with automatic controls to stop fans in case of fire,

unless arranged to remove smoke from a fire, in which case these should be designed

to remain in operation.
c) Air- conditioning system serving large places of assembly (over one thousand

persons), large departmental stores, or hostels with over 100 rooms in a single

block should be provided with effective means for preventing circulation of

smoke through the system in the case of fire in air filters or from other

sources drawn into the system even though there is insufficient heat to

actuate heat smoke sensitive devices controlling fans or dampers.

d) Such means shall consist of approved effective smoke sensitive controls.

ALTERNATE SOURCE OF ELECTRIC SUPPLY

A stand by electric generator shall be installed to supply power to staircase and

corridor lighting circuits, lifts detection system, fire pumps, pressurization fans

and bowlers, P..A system, exit sign, smoke extraction system, in case of failure of

normal electric supply.

The generator shall be capable of taking starting current of all the machines and

circuits stated above simultaneously.

If the stand by pump is driven by diesel engine, the generator supply need not be

connected to the stand by pump. The generator shall be automatic in operation.

STAIRCASE AND CORRIDOR LIGHTS

The staircase and corridor lighting shall be on separate circuits and shall be
independently connected so that it could be operated by one switch
installation on the ground floor easily accessible to fire fighting staff at any
time irrespective of the position of the individual control of the light points,
if any. It should be of miniature circuit breaker type of switch so as to avoid
replacement of fuse in case of crisis.

a) Staircase and corridor lighting shall also be connected to alternate source of

power supply.

b) Double throw switch shall be installed in the service room for terminating
the stand by supply.

c) Emergency lights shall be provided in the staircase and corridor.

SERVICE DUCTS/REFUGE CHUTE
a) Service duct shall be enclosed by walls and door, if any, of 2 hours fire

rating. If ducts are larger than 10 sq.mt. the floor should seal them, but

provide suitable opening for the pipes to pass through, with the gaps sealed.

b) Refuge chutes shall have an outlet at least of wall of non-combustible

material with fire resistance of not less than two hours.

They shall not be located within the staircase enclosure or service shafts or air-

conditioning shafts. Inspection panel and door shall be tight fitting with 1

hour fire resistance; the chutes should be as far away as possible form exits.

c) Refuge chutes shall not be provided in staircase walls and A/C shafts etc.
PROVISION OF HELIPAD

All high-rise buildings 50 mt. above shall have provision for a

Helipad at the terrace.

The same shall be approved by the competent Authority.

FIRE PROTECTION REQUIREMENTS

Buildings shall be planned, designed and constructed to

ensure fire safety and this sha1l be done in accordance with

part IV Fire Protection of National Building Code of India, unless

otherwise specified in these Bye-Laws. The building schemes shall

also be cleared by the Chief Fire Officer.

First Aid /Fixed Fire Fighting /Fire Detection Systems and other
Facilities

Provision of fire safety arrangement for different occupancy from. SI no. 1

to 23 as indicated below shall be as per Annexure 'A' 'B' & 'C'.

1. Access

2. Wet Riser

3. Down Comer

4. Hose Reel

5. Automatic Sprinkler System

6. Yard Hydrant

7. U.G. Tank with Draw off Connection

8. Terrace Tanks
9. Fire Pump 17.Illuminated Exit Sign

10. Terrace Pump 18.Means of Escape

11.First Aid Fire Fighting Appliances 19.Compartimentation

12.Auto Detection System 20.MCB /ELCB

13.Manual operated Electrical Fire 21.Fire Man Switch in Lift

Alarm System 22.Hose Boxes with Delivery Hoses and

14.P.A System with talk back facility Branch

15.Emergency Light 23.Pipes Refuge Area

16.Auto D.G. Set

STATIC WATER STORAGE TANK

• A satisfactory supply of water exclusively for the purpose of fire

fighting shall always be available in the form of underground static storage

tank with capacity specified in Annexure-A with arrangements of

replenishment by town's main or alternative source of supply @ 1000 liters

per minute.

• The static storage water supply required for the above mentioned purpose

should entirely be accessible to the fire engines of the local fire service.

• Provision of suitable number of manholes shall be made available for

inspection repairs and insertion of suction hose etc.

a)The covering slab shall be able to withstand the vehicular load of 45 tones

in case of high rise and 22 tone in case of low rise.

A draw off connection shall be provided.

The slab need not been strengthened if the static tank is not located in

mandatory set- back area.

b) To prevent stagnation of water in the static water tank the suction tank of

the domestic water supply shall be fed only through an over flow

arrangement to maintain the level therein at the minimum specified

capacity.
c) The static water storage tank shall be provided with a fire

brigade collecting branching with 4 Nos. 63mm dia

instantaneous male inlets arranged in a valve box with a

suitable fixed pipe not less than 15 cm dia to discharge water

into the tank. This arrangement is not required where down

comer is provided.
AUTOMATIC SPRINKLERS

Automatic sprinkler system shall be installed in the following

buildings:
a)All buildings of 24 mt. and above in height, except group housing
and 45 mt. and above in case of apartment /group housing society
building.
b)Hotels below l5mt. in height and above 1000 sq. mt. built up area at
each floor and or if basement is existing.
c)All hotels, mercantile, and institutional buildings of 15 mt. and
above.
d) Mercantile building having basement more than one floor but
below 15mt. (floor area not exceeding 750 sq. mt.)
e)Underground Shopping Complex.
f) Underground car / scooter parking /enclosed car parking.

g)Basement area 200 sq.mt. and above.

h)Any special hazards where C.F.0. consider it necessary.

i) For building up to 24 mt. in height where automatic sprinklers

system is not mandatory as per this Bye-Laws, if provided with

sprinkler installation following relaxation can be considered.

i) Automatic heat/smoke detection system and M.C.P. need not be

insisted.

ii)The number of Fire Extinguisher required shall be reduced by half.

FIXED CARBON DI-OXIDE/FOAM/DCO
WATER SPRAY EXTINGUISHING
SYSTEM

• Fixed extinguishing installations shall be provided

as per the relevant specifications in the premises

where use of above extinguishing media is

considered necessary by the Chief Fire Officer.

FIRE ALARM SYSTEM
All buildings of 15 mt. and above in height shall be equipped with fire alarm system, and

residential buildings (Dwelling House, Boarding House and Hostels) above 24 mt.

height.

a) All residential buildings like dwelling housing (including flats) boarding houses and

hostels shall be equipped with manually operated electrical fire alarm system with one

or more call boxes located at each floor.

b) The location of the call boxes shall be decided after taking into consideration their floor

without having to travel more than 22.5 mt.

b) The call boxes shall be of the break glass type without any moving parts. Where the call

is transmitted automatically to the control room without any other action on the part of

the person operating the call boxes.

FIRE ALARM SYSTEM..

c) The circuit shall also include one or more batteries with a capacity of 48

hours normal working at full load. The battery shall be arranged to be a

continuously trickle charged from the electric mains.

d) The call boxes shall be arranged to sound one or more sounders so as to

ensure that all occupants of the floor shall be warned whenever any call

box is actuated.

e) The call boxes shall be so installed that they do not obstruct the exit ways

and yet their location can easily be noticed from either direction. The

base of the call box shall be at a height of 1.5 mt. from the floor level.
FIRE ALARM SYSTEM…

• All buildings other than as indicated above shall, in addition to the

manually operated electrical fire alarm system, be equipped with

an automatic fire alarm system.

• Automatic detection system shall be installed in accordance with

the relevant standard specifications. In the building where

automatic sprinkler system is provided, the automatic detection

system may not be insisted upon unless otherwise decided by the

Chief Fire Officer, Fire Service.

FIRE DRILLS AND FIRE ORDERS

The guidelines for fire drill and evacuation etc. for high-rise building may be

seen in Appendix (B) of National Building Code part IV. All such

building shall prepare the fire orders duly approved by the Chief Fire

Officer, Fire Services.

A qualified fire officer and trained staff shall be appointed for the following

buildings.

a)All high rise buildings above 30 mt. in height where covered area of one

floor exceeds 1000 sq.mt. except apartment group housing.

b)All hotels, identified under classification three star and above category by

Tourism Department and all hotels above 15 mt. in height with 150 beds

capacity or more without star category.

c)All hospital building of 15 mt. and above or having number of beds

exceeding 100.

d)Underground shopping complex where covered area exceeds 1000 sq.mt.

e)All high hazard Industries.

f)Any other risk where Chief Fire Officer considers necessary.

MATERIAL USED FOR CONSTRUCTION OF BUILDING

a) The combustible/flammable material shall not be used for partitioning, wall

paneling, false ceiling etc.

Any material giving out toxic gases/smoke if involved in the fire shall not be

used for partitioning of a floor or wall paneling or a false ceiling etc.

The surface frames spread of the lining material shall conform to class-I of

the standard specification.

The framework of the entire false ceiling would be provided with metallic sections

and no wooden framework shall be allowed for paneling/false ceiling.

b) Construction features/elements of structures shall conform to National Building

Code and BIS code .

LPG

The use of LPG shall not be permitted in the high-rise building

except residential/hotel/hostel/kitchen/pantry (if any) shall be

located at the periphery of the building on the ground level.

46
Basic Terminology used in Fire Safety Norms
• Combustible Material

• Down-comer

• Emergency Lighting
• Emergency Lighting System

• Escape Lighting
• Fire Door

• Fire Exit

• Fire Lift

• Fire Load
• Fire Resistance

• Fire Separation

• Fire Separation Wall

• Fire Stop

• Fire Tower
than 100 mm internal diameter with landing valves on each
floor/landing. It is also fitted with inlet connections at ground
level for charging with water by pumping from fire service
appliances and air release valve at roof level to release trapped
air inside.

Dry Riser — An arrangement of fire fighting within the

building by means of vertical rising mains not less than 100 mm
internal diameter with landing valves on each floorflanding
which is normally dry but is capable of being charged with
water usually by pumping from fire service appliances.