Abstract
Fire safety is an important concern in all types of construction. The high level of national concern for fire safety is reflected in limitations and design requirements in building codes. These code requirements and related fire performance data are discussed in the context of fire safety design and evaluation in the initial section of this chapter. Because basic data on fire behavior of wood products are needed to evaluate fire safety for wood construction, the second major section of this chapter provides additional information on fire behavior and fire performance characteristics of wood products. The chapter concludes with a discussion of fire-retardant treatments that can be used to reduce the combustibility of wood.
Keywords
Building materials,
standards,
flame spread,
fire testing,
flammability,
thermal properties,
combustion,
testing,
fire prevention,
heat of combustion,
fire risk assessment,
char,
thermal degradation,
fire resistance,
fire retardants,
fire hazard,
ignition,
wildland-urban interface,
heat release rate,
treated wood
Citation
White, Robert H.; Dietenberger, Mark A. 2010. Fire safety of wood construction. Wood handbook : wood as an engineering material: chapter 18. Centennial ed. General technical report FPL ; GTR-190. Madison, WI : U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, 2010: p. 18.1-18.22.