KEEPING YOUR BUSINESS SAFE & COMPLIANT WITH CINDER SOLUTIONS
Fire Stopping
Fire stopping is a crucial part of passive fire protection, involving sealing gaps and openings in fire-rated walls and floors with special materials to prevent fire, smoke, and heat from spreading between building compartments, maintaining the structure's integrity, allowing safe evacuation, and giving firefighters time to respond. It reinstates the fire barrier where services like pipes, cables, and ducts penetrate, using fire-resistant products that can expand or char to block flames and fumes.
Overview
Summary
Fire stopping refers to the methods and materials used to seal openings and joints in fire-rated walls, floors, and ceilings. In construction and electrical installations, this includes sealing around cables, conduits, pipe penetrations, and service voids that breach fire compartments. The purpose is to restore the fire-resistance rating of the structure, ensuring that fire-rated barriers perform as originally designed.
Legal
Fire stopping is a legal requirement under building regulations and fire safety standards for commercial, industrial, and residential properties. Electrical and construction works must not compromise fire-rated elements, and any penetrations must be correctly fire stopped using approved systems. Non-compliance can result in failed inspections, legal liability, increased insurance risk, and costly remedial work.
Preventing
Unsealed or poorly sealed service penetrations allow fire, smoke, and toxic gases to spread rapidly through a building. Effective fire stopping slows or prevents this spread by containing fire within a compartment for a specified period. This containment is critical for protecting escape routes, limiting property damage, and reducing the risk of fire spreading to other areas or floors of the building.
Protecting
Fire stopping plays a vital role in life safety by giving occupants more time to evacuate and allowing emergency services safer access during a fire. By maintaining the integrity of fire compartments, fire stopping helps reduce smoke inhalation risks and structural damage. Properly installed systems significantly lower the overall impact of a fire event on both people and assets.
Did you know?
Common Fire Stopping Applications
• Pipe and cable penetrations through walls and floors
• Gaps around ductwork and trays
• Movement joints in buildings
• Voids and cavities within walls and ceilings
Fire Stopping plays a critical role in life safety and property protection by:
• Containing fire within a compartment
• Reducing the movement of smoke
• Allowing more time for occupants to escape safely
• Providing additional time for emergency services to respond
• Limiting structural damage
Fire stopping systems are designed to react to fire conditions. Depending on the product used, they may:
• Expand (intumesce) when exposed to heat, sealing gaps as services melt or burn away.
• Resist fire and high temperatures for a tested period (e.g., 30, 60, 90, or 120 minutes).
• Prevent the passage of smoke and toxic gases, even before flames are present.
Common Fire Stopping Applications
Fire Stopping plays a critical role in life safety and property protection by:
• Containing fire within a compartment
• Reducing the movement of smoke
• Allowing more time for occupants to escape safely
• Providing additional time for emergency services to respond
• Limiting structural damage
