About Firestop Protection

 You can’t guarantee that a fire will never break out at your property, but you can control how quickly a fire is able to spread. Firestop systems help slow the spread of fire, smoke, gas, and more by restoring the designed fire-resistance of fire barriers when penetrated, or when intersecting walls and floors.

Firestop is all about compartmentation, dividing buildings into more manageable areas. Properly installed firestop systems can prevent fire and smoke from moving from one room to another. This ensures that building occupants have ample time to escape in an emergency, and provides firefighters additional time to extinguish the fire prior to total structure loss.

Fire protection features can be divided into two main categories: active and passive fire protection. 

• Active fire protection: This includes more commonly known fire protection that actively fights against a fire. Examples include fire extinguishers in every room, sprinkler systems, and fire alarms throughout a building.
• Passive fire protection: This involves the intentional design of a structure to help prevent the spread of a fire. Compartmentalizing spaces and installing UL listed firestop systems in walls and floors will restrict the free movement of fire, smoke, and gases for hours at a time.

Any building of sufficient complexity may have rated passive fire protection, but not all of these buildings are required to have firestop special inspections. This is dictated by the International Building Code, referenced below.

1705.18 Fire-resistant penetrations and joints.

"In high-rise buildings or in buildings assigned to Risk Category III or IV, or in fire areas

containing Group R occupancies with an occupant load greater than 250, special inspections for

through-penetrations, membrane penetration firestops, fire-resistant joint systems and perimeter

fire containment systems that are tested and listed in accordance with Sections 714.4.1.2,

714.5.1.2, 715.3.1, and 715.4 shall be in accordance with Section 1705.18.1 or 1705.18.2."

This includes most high-rises, hospitals, schools, churches, emergency services buildings, apartments with an occupant load of 250 or more, etc.

For new construction, proper firestop system installation during contruction ensures all fire or smoke rated compartmentation barriers are ready to protect your investment and those inside. Many passive fire protection components will be inaccessbile after interior finishes are added. With expert installation and knowledgable inspectors you will have peace of mind knowing you are protected.

With existing buildings comes the challenge of repairing years of ongoing maintenance. It's not always clear which walls are fire-rated when modifying data and utliities in an existing structure, leading to many buldings inadvertently having compromised compartmentation. Schedule an initial consultation with us to verify the integrity of your building's passive fire protection.