SR59 Report on the effect of passive ventilation on the rate of fire development in dwellings (2007)

This is a report of a study carried out to determine whether the increased use of window units fitted with a fixed amount of passive ventilation was likely to have any significant effect on fire safety in houses.

A small two-bedroom dwelling was studied and computer simulations of fire growth carried out for a range of fire scenarios, with and without passive ventilation included.

It was observed that, for a given fire scenario, no significant change in life safety resulted for an occupant in the room where the fire started, but some improvement was noted for occupants located in rooms remote from the fire and where passive ventilation was fitted to the head of the windows.

It was concluded that, from a practical standpoint, only relatively small differences in fire development occur with and without the installation of fixed passive ventilation and that these differences are likely to be outweighed by possible differences in the heat output of the fire due to changes in the ignitability and burning rates of furniture and lining materials.