Fire performance
The Challenge
Fortunately, fires are rare, but when they hit schools, hospitals or other buildings, the consequences can be disastrous. Today in any country in Europe, 1 to 4 people in 200,000 will die every year from fire.
A fire is always a result of an ignition source (heat), oxygen (air) and the presence of a combustible material. 
The ignition source is mostly caused by human acts, conscious or by accident. Oxygen is needed to keep the fire going. It is obvious that without combustible material a fire is impossible. By using as many non-combustible materials as possible the risk of fire will be limited.
To contribute to the prevention of the devastating effects of fires, two European regulations apply to construction materials.
- Reaction to fire’ determines whether a material fuels a fire. The EU Reaction to fire evaluation criteria are the material’s ignitability, rate of heat release, rate of spread of flame, rate of smoke emission, toxic gas emission, flaming droplets/particles and/or a combination of these safety aspects. Most countries have adopted minimum targets in this area and they can be found in National Building Regulations.
- Fire resistance’ indicates how well a building element - for a stated period of time - can hold back fire and prevent it from penetrating from one room to another. All countries in Europe have adopted minimum targets for fire resistance. The fire resistance testing and classification in Europe are standardised. However local building regulations determine for which type of building construction fire resistance is required and which standard applies.
The basic criteria used to characterise the fire resistance of a building element are:
R: Load-bearing capacity: (to provide strength and stability of the building)
E:Integrity: (to keep the element intact)
I:Insulation: (to keep the temperature low on the unexposed side of the element, expressed in minutes)
An element fulfilling all these basic criteria for 30 minutes will be classified REI 30.
Reaction to fire classification according to EN 13501-1
Class | Reaction to fire | Flashover in the room corner reference test | Additional classes |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | No contribution to a fire | No | None |
| A2 | No significant contribution to fire growth | No | Production of smoke & flaming droplets or particles |
| B | Very limited contribution to fire growth | No | Production of smoke & flaming droplets or particles |
| C | Limited contribution to flashover | Flashover after 10 mins | Production of smoke & flaming droplets or particles |
| D | Contribution to flashover | Flashover between 2 to 10min | Production of smoke & flaming droplets or particles |
| E | Significant contribution to flashover | Flashover before 2min | Production of flaming droplets or particles. (Smoke release is expected to be substantial) |
| F | Not tested or incapable of achieving Class E | No performance determined |
Our contribution to performance
Rockfon meets and exceeds the fire safety norms in all European countries. Rockfon, as part of the Rockwool group, has committed to invest heavily in fire testing and related development.
Rockwool incombustible stone wool is the safe basis of all our ceiling products. Most of them are rated A1. As a basis for the new fire classification, the best product may not deliver any contribution to a fire. Only a non-combustible product can be rated in the highest class (A1).
In terms of smoke all Rockfon ceilings satisfy the most stringent criteria for smoke generation. This is particularly important as 66% of fatalities are related to smoke. A1 materials do not have by definition any further classification to smoke emission and burning droplets, as they are non-combustible.
Requirements set by government mostly are minimum requirements. This does not mean that by meeting these requirements a building is automatically 100% safe. The more products being used with the highest fire reaction (A1), the safer the building will be.
Even within the commonly known fire resistance classification expressed as a combination of REI and the duration of the protection, which is used in many countries, different test methods yield very different results:
| Country | Product | Test method | Classification |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belgium, Netherlands | Sonar D | EN 1365-2 | REI 45* |
| France | Alaska E | ENV 13381/1 | REI 30* |
| Denmark, Sweden, Norway | Sonar E | EN 14135 | K 10 |
| United Kingdom | Sonar E | BS476 Part 23 | 72 minutes |
* Classified after 13501-2
