Fire Load Assessment in Office Buildings: A Comparison of Survey Results

Fire load is an important factor affecting fire growth in a compartment during fire. In the past, numerous fire load surveys had been conducted world-wide. Although their results are scattered and show large variations, the present research on fire load can still be benefitted from a comprehensive review of the past works. This paper presents the result of major fire load surveys conducted in office buildings and compares it with the provisions of fire codes and standards of the United States, European Union members, India and New Zealand. The survey results indicate a strong correlation of fire load with compartment floor areas and room uses. Contrary to the survey results, most of the fire codes and standards do not account this correlation and recommend a constant value. Recent changes in construction materials, layouts and furnishings in office buildings has modified the fire load values significantly. But, due to inadequate and inappropriate fire load survey data, provisions in current fire codes and standards had not been changed appreciably. This review paper critically examines the existing fire load values, find gaps in the current research and proposes a research methodology for improving the future fire load database for the benefit of engineers, architects, researchers, fire risk assessors and the code revision committee dealing with the fire safety of office buildings.