Passive Fire Knowledge Group issues trio of new Knowledge Shares

The new publications are as follows:

*PFKG Knowledge Share 10: Active Fire Curtain Standards

*PFKG Knowledge Share 11: Active Fire Curtains – Insulation versus Radiation

*PFKG Knowledge Share 12: Fire Barriers and Cavity Barriers – What’s the Difference?

Taken together, these documents provide clear and practical guidance in areas where poor terminology, legacy standards and inconsistent interpretation continue to undermine compliance.

Knowledge Shares 10 and 11 focus on common specification errors associated with active fire curtains. Knowledge Share 10 addresses frequent confusion between smoke leakage-classified active fire curtains and simple smoke curtains. Simple smoke curtains are intended solely to control and direct smoke towards smoke control systems and provide no fire resistance (integrity) performance. This is in contrast to smoke leakage-classified active fire curtains, which are tested to fire resistance standards.

The document cautions against the use of the term ‘smoke and fire curtains’ in specifications as this is misleading and can result in the selection of incorrect products.

Frequent misapplication

Knowledge Share 11 highlights the frequent misapplication of insulation (I) performance where radiation (W) classification is more appropriate for active fire curtains. Insulation fire resistance (I) refers to the time taken for the temperature on the non-fire side of a curtain to rise more than 180°C above ambient under test conditions: a performance that most active fire curtains don’t achieve for any significant duration.

By contrast, the radiation criterion (W) measures the time taken for heat radiation at one metre from the non-fire side to exceed 15 kW/m². This typically provides a more realistic and meaningful measure of performance for active fire curtains, particularly so when combined with integrity (E) to form an EW classification.

For its part, Knowledge Share 12 addresses another long-standing area of confusion: the distinction between fire barriers and cavity barriers. The document explains the different regulatory roles these systems perform, along with the differing fire resistance requirements that apply to each. It also highlights how misunderstanding can lead to non-compliance, particularly where products are installed within cavities, above ceilings or beneath raised access floors without appropriate supporting evidence.

Early engagement

Across all three publications, the PFKG emphasises the overriding importance of early engagement between fire engineers, designers, contractors and manufacturers in order to ensure that specifications are clear, achievable and supported by suitable test evidence.

“These Knowledge Shares are about removing ambiguity from some of the most frequently misunderstood aspects of passive fire protection,” explained Will Pitt, chair of the PFKG. “Incorrect assumptions around standards or performance don’t just create technical issues. They also introduce avoidable compliance risk into fire strategies and, ultimately, undermine safety. Clear terminology and evidence-led specification are fundamental.”

All three Knowledge Shares are available now as free downloads from www.pfkg.org, duly supporting the PFKG’s ongoing commitment to improve competency and consistency across the fire safety community.