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CODE CONSIDERATIONS |
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For Fire Rated Windows
It is with reluctance that we at Fyre-Tec make any attempt to interpret
the fire protection codes for a specific building or construction at any
particular locality. While there has been an attempt to write a single
code for universal use within the United States, it has thus far met mixed
acceptance. A competitive “single code” has been published
and is being adopted in some localities. Many states and cities have yet
to adopt one of these newer codes, and have chosen to modify or amend an
older existing code. Yet other localities have in place codes that were
written and adopted by local officials many years ago. To make this more
difficult, all of the building codes are subject to interpretation by the
authority having jurisdiction (AHJ).
Fire Rated Windows – Where are they required…
Fire protections standards and building codes recognize the hazard associated
with exterior wall openings that are created by inadequate separation
between buildings. Where the separation is inadequate and the expected
fire exposure is moderate or light, these regulations permit window openings
protected with fire windows. This protection can be provided by properly
designed windows.
To protect paths of egress from interior fires, fire window assemblies
can be specified for openings abutting exterior stairs and fire escapes
and in corridors where wall openings are used to provide natural lighting
of the corridor from adjacent rooms.
National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)
Standards developed by the National Fire Protection Association are widely
accepted as the benchmark for a qualified product, in FyreTec’s case
the fire protection rating for steel windows.
NFPA 80 Standard for Fire Doors and Fire Windows establishes the criteria
for qualifying an approved fire rated window.
Some of the qualifying requirements include:
• Fire windows shall be tested in accordance with NFPA
257 – Standard
on Fire Test for Window and Glass Block Assemblies.
•
The window frame shall be labeled for such use.
•
Only labeled fire protection-rated glazing material shall be use in
fire windows.
•
Glazing material to be limited in size and area to maximum area tested
in frame.
NFPA 80 continues to specify types of windows and applications:
• Fire windows shall be used to protect openings in interior
and exterior partitions required to be protected
by the AHJ.
• Maximum size protected openings will not exceed 84
square feet with
neither dimension exceeding 12 feet.
• All fire windows shall be of a fixed type or shall
be automatic closing.
NFPA 257 – Standard on Fire Test for Window and Glass Block Assemblies
specifies the test procedure that must be conducted by an independent test
agency for a manufacturer to qualify a product as a fire rated window assembly.
The procedure is very specific in the mounting, test temperature and time,
hose stream test, performance criteria and report results.
Underwriters Laboratories, Inc.
Fyre-Tec engaged the services of the internationally recognized testing
agency, Underwriters Laboratories (UL) to conduct the above required
NFPA tests. UL examined and tested Fyre-Tec windows in accordance with
these tests and their requirement UL-9. The windows were certified and
listed at that time and Fyre-Tec was issued a UL file number reflecting
this acceptance. We continue our relationship with UL through quarterly
follow-up inspections by a UL representative at our manufacturing facility.
These inspections assure compliance and integrity of the product as manufactured.
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