A case study of fires in structural elements

Abstract

Several severe fires in structural elements, or so-called “structural fires”, have occurred in Sweden in recent years. In order to study this phenomenon, a dozen fires in structural elements have been studied in a recent project. This paper provides a description of the characteristics of “structural fires” and examples of how such events can be managed and limited. Constructional fire protection, rescue service response and fire development are the three main factors that control the outcome of structural fires. However, there are several underlying and more specific factors affecting the outcome of each fire.