Fire and Smoke Curtains for Municipal Buildings

Municipal buildings have very specific needs when it comes to fire protection. Not only do the occupants working in the building need to stay safe, there are often numerous visitors to the building throughout the day that may not know the layout or the best avenues to exit in the case of a fire.

To best prevent damage in case of fire and allow the maximum number of people to escape safely, use fire and smoke curtains to help control the spread of flames and smoke. Fire and smoke curtains are a safe, discreet, and cost-effective solution that are also becoming an increasingly popular choice for government and municipal buildings looking to find ways to prevent the damage and injuries that fires can cause.

Retrofitting Buildings

Many towns and cities have their offices and municipal buildings located in older structures that have been a part of the area for decades, if not longer. The buildings are often functional and in some cases historic, which makes renovations for things like fire safety more difficult to carry out than they may be in a newer building or in new construction.

This is one of the reasons that smoke and fire curtains are such an effective solution for municipal buildings. The curtains can be retrofit and installed discreetly over doorways, in front of elevators and stairwells, or across lobbies. When not in use, the curtains remain out of sight, and their installation does not require significant or expensive modifications to the buildings themselves. This is an important consideration for many older buildings, where visible means of fire retardation may go against historical design or where the cost of the project may be beyond the town or city’s budget.

Fire Resistive Curtain Material

Fire-resistive curtains are designed of a special fiberglass and stainless steel thread coated with a polyurethane material that can withstand flame, heat, and smoke. The curtains are flexible, and are stored rolled and tucked discreetly away, usually at the top or head of areas such as doorways, stairwells, and elevator shafts. They’re designed to deploy as soon as smoke detectors register the presence of fire particulates in the air, before the fire has time to get out of control.

Used in conjunction with other fire safety measures, such as sprinklers or fire extinguishers, fire and smoke curtains offer buildings of all shapes and sizes an effective means of containing and retarding the spread of fire and smoke.

Safe and Effective

While smoke and fire curtains are discreet and unobtrusive when not in use, they are still an extremely effective means of containing the spread of both flames and smoke. The curtains can be deployed either automatically or manually, and will help to seal off the area from other parts of the building. This in turn helps keep the initial fire where it began, instead of allowing the smoke to infiltrate other parts of the building, where it can cause more damage.

By helping to contain the fire, smoke curtains allow more time for people to exit the building, as well as more time for fire responders to arrive. This in turn minimizes not only loss of life and injury, but also costly damage to the building itself and any equipment that the building contains.

Fire and smoke can both spread very quickly, often penetrating other rooms of a building within minutes of starting, but with fire curtains deployed, the fire is contained to where it can be more easily extinguished and the damage repaired.

Because municipal buildings often operate on a strict budget, any repairs needed after a fire may cause significant stress to the town. Fire and smoke curtains are a cost-effective way to prevent this from happening, saving the town money, while ensuring that fire and safety codes for public buildings are being met at the same time.

All Types of Building Coverage

Municipal buildings often house a number of different departments and have several uses. A municipal office building may hold recreational facilities for the town in an older building without elevators, or it may hold town records for landowners and be located in a more contemporary structure.

Regardless of the type of building or the type of work that goes on there, however, the needs remain the same: to protect the building, its equipment, records, and occupants from the hazards of fire. Smoke and fire curtains can do that no matter what shape or size the building is, whether it contains atriums and open spaces, or elevator shafts. Smoke and fire curtains are available in multiple sizes and designs to meet the needs of the facility.

Protect Your Building

Fire, smoke, and the damage they can cause are significant threats to municipal buildings, resulting in thousands of dollars in lost property and potential loss of life as well. Sprinkler systems and fire extinguishers aren’t enough to protect these important structures.

Don’t risk the damage and associated costs that a fire can cause. Instead, take steps to protect your municipal building with the use of fire and smoke curtains throughout the space to ensure the safety of everyone and everything inside.