#compartmentation

4 articles.

A long, dim medieval oak roof attic seen down its length: steep rafters and heavy trusses form a timber tunnel over the rounded, dusty stone backs of the vaults, with a plank walkway down the middle and work lamps hanging from the beams.

Fire Case Studies

Notre-Dame Fire: Why an 800-Year-Old Roof Burned in Hours

The 2019 Notre-Dame fire grew for half an hour in a 100 m oak attic before anyone called firefighters. See the fuel, the lead, the vaults and the rebuild.

October 16, 2026 · 19 min read

A full-scale facade fire test rig in a bright laboratory hall: two tall walls clad in grey composite panels meet in a corner, with a square combustion chamber at the foot of the left wall holding a crossed stack of timber sticks.

Fire Case Studies

Grenfell Tower Fire: The Cladding Physics Behind 72 Deaths

The Grenfell Tower fire began as a kitchen fire. See how polyethylene cladding, a stay-put plan that outlived the building and gamed tests killed 72 people.

October 6, 2026 · 19 min read

Fire Safety Engineering

2-Hour Fire Wall: What a Fire Resistance Rating Measures

A 2-hour fire resistance rating means a wall survived a 1918 furnace curve, not a real fire. Here is what the test proves, and where it falls short.

September 22, 2026 · 19 min read

Full-scale fire resistance furnace test in a modern laboratory — a brick wall specimen sits in a heavy steel furnace frame with a hydraulic loading ram above it, orange flames glow through observation ports along the furnace side, a thick bundle of thermocouple wires runs from the cool unexposed face to an instrumentation rack showing live temperature traces, and two technicians in white lab coats and hard hats watch from behind a yellow floor line

Fire Testing

Reaction to Fire vs Fire Resistance: What Each Test Proves

Reaction to fire ranks how a product feeds a growing fire. Fire resistance times how long an assembly holds. Mixing up the two has killed people.

August 5, 2026 · 19 min read