Fire doors are primarily designed to delay the spread of fire and smoke from one compartment area to another. Their purpose is to allow an easy means for occupants to escape without any hindrance in the event of a fire.

Fire doors can typically withstand the attack of fire and provide fire protection ranging from 30 minutes to 4 hours, when maintained and installed correctly with the essential fire door set components to the manufacturers specifications.

This sample video provided below (source : youtube) compares the performance of identical fire doors highlighting the catastrophic consequences when intumescent seals, toughened glazing and incorrect assembly occur.

To determine if an existing or newly installed frame and fire door is compliant, check that the fire door is issued with a compliance tag and certificate to Australian Standard 1905.1 and Australian Standard 1530.4.

All compliance tags are to remain on the door for the life intended (beware of low quality adhesive that will cause the tag to become ‘unstuck’ over time – this can result in non-compliance and cause inspection/maintenance problems) and must include the manufacturer’s name, year of manufacture, serial number and fire rating information. Fire doors must also be inspected in accordance to the building classification of the BCA. Having the above in mind, fire doors are indeed not ordinary doors after all!!