Sam ‘O’ Ayadi, the Managing Consultant of Sagif Training Consultant, accredited representative of Envirograf UK has for many years been leading the campaign against fire incidents in Nigeria. His company deals in Passive Fire Prevention Products. While talking with Viewpoint Housing News in Abuja, he gave ways fire can be contained in highrise buildings, implementation of the National Fire Code, why fire equipment fail and others…
Viewpoint: In some instances, installed fire equipment fail to respond in time of need. What is always responsible for this?
Ayadi: Even when you have fire alarm and detection system in a place – these are fixed installation, there’s need for what we call Fire Drill. Fire drill is supposed to inform the building occupants about the fact that Oh, the fire safety elements that are installed in this building are still working.
Apartr from that, it helps to inform the building occupants that in case there’s loss of control, in case there’s an incident, fire alarm…how do we escape? It tells them what to do so as to evacuate safely. Even though you have this alarm system working, if you don’t have a system in place that has to check from time to time that they’re working…because these are electrical elements and they are prone to faults. And because of that, there’s need for you to monitor three monthly, twice in a year, to check the status of your installtion.
From time to time, you might have to carry out, for every fire safety installation in a building fire safety drill to check the status of the installation – whether they’re working or not.
If you don’t do that, if there’s loss of control, if there’s fire occuring, the system might fail you and then of course, you’ll live to regret that.
Viewpoint: If you are to talk to architects and developoers now, what precisely would you tell them?
Ayadi: Fire safety management is not a one-man show. We work in partnership with architects, builders, planners, building engineers because, in a building, it’s not only the architects that build. They build in company of civil engineers, QS and all of them.
But for fire safety, we’re saying from the very beginning, passive fire prevention elements should be incorporated at the design stage so that if they work hand in hand, the possibility of fire occuring is quite limited and if it happens at all, because the passive fire prevention elements are already incorporated at the design stage, that gives increased confidence and of course, if there’s control, you can still stay in business or go back to business early.
Viewpoint: Highrise buildings are the face of modern cities. In case of fire incident, use of the elavator is discouraged. Somebody might be sick. How do we manage this phenomenon?
Ayadi: With the highrisers, I think it’s important you build with fire safety in mind – very very important! For instance, under building regulation, any building that is from three or four storeys up, must not exist without a fire sprinkler. Either a manual or automatic [one] should exist. It must be incorporated in such a building by qualified sprinkler engineers.
No building should exist from three to four storeys upward without a sprinkler. It’s legally important in developed countries. And then with the fire safety code in Nigeria now, it’s part of it.
And more than anything else, I mention again, there’s need to incorporate passive fire prevention products because if the passive fire prevention [materials] are incorporated as part of the building ediffice…a lot of people are worried about estatics but safety is more important than estatics. There’s need to balance safety and estatics.
Encourage passive fire prevention installation in the building because you can never tell, you will not be there and there’s fire outbreak. These fire prevention products have the capability to respond to the fire by either containing it, extinguishing the fire or preventing fire spread.
Viewpoint: What’s passive fire prevention?
Ayadi: Passive fire prevention are manufactured fire products that are incorporated in a building. They form part of a building structure. And when you install them in a building, they form part of the building fabrics.
These fabrics have the capability to respond to the fire because most of them contain what we call intumescent and at 120 centigrade, most of the intumescent will respond. When they swell up, they can double or tripple in size. So when they respond to fire, they’ll absorb the heat – stop the fire from spreading, because the beauty of passive fire technology is containment – preventing fire spread so that people can go back to the building. In fact, if a miniature part of the building is destroyed, people can still go back to business.
Viewpoint: Is there anything new or spectacular in terms of services/equipment you can offer builders?
Ayadi: Yes, in Sagif, we have a number fire safety equipment especially on the passive side. Passive fire prevention products are available. We have passive fire prevention equipment such as: down lighters, intumescent gasket, fire barrier bags, firated cabinet and a whole range of other passive fire prevention products. All this is in our offices.
And then of course, there’s an issue regarding maintaining very good house keeping at home. Even though when you have all this, there’s a need for you to have good house keeping at work. Good house keeping in the sernse that you want to be sure that you’re not mixing up combustible products with materials/sources of ignition. If you mix these together, fire can start! For instance, at home, you make sure you don’t have your cylinder inside the building.
