Fire Safety Challenges of ‘Green’ Buildings and Attributes Final Report by: Brian Meacham Meacham Associates Shrewsbury, MA, USA Margaret McNamee Lund University Lund, Sweden October 2020 © 2020 Fire Protection Research Foundation 1 Batterymarch Park, Quincy, MA 02169 | Web: www.nfpa.org/foundation | Email: [email protected] —— Page ii —— Foreword In 2012, the Fire Protection Research Foundation published the report, Fire Safety Challenges of Green Buildings, the objectives of which were to a) systematically document a set of green building design elements that may increase fire safety hazards, and, b) share best practices identified via the search with respect to fire hazard risk mitigation associated with green building design elements. This effort identified more some 80 ‘green’ building features and technologies, identified a set of 22 potential sources of increased hazard or risk associated with the ‘green’ features and technologies, identified several fire and other safety events associated with the ‘green’ features and technologies, and presented a relative risk matrix as a qualitative representation of the ‘additional’ hazard or risk presented by ‘green’ buildings and features. In the six and a half years since the project report was published, there have been several major fire events, which involved ‘green’ building features or technologies, notably the Grenfell Tower fire in London (combustible insulation), the Dietz & Watson cold storage warehouse in Delanco, New Jersey (photovoltaic panels, combustible insulation), and a spate of fires in buildings under construction using lightweight timber framing. While each of these can be categorized in many ways, they (and many others) include materials, systems, technologies and features that are considered ‘green’ or sustainable. There has also been new research and some regulatory change. Therefore, the Foundation initiated this project with the goal to conduct a global information search into fire events involving green / sustainable building materials, features and technologies, and into research, regulatory changes, engineering approaches, risk mitigation strategies, and firefighting tactics associated with fire challenges with green / sustainable building materials, features and technologies, which have emerged since the publication of the 2012 report, Fire Safety Challenges of Green Buildings. The Fire Protection Research Foundation expresses gratitude to the report authors Brian Meacham, who is with Meacham Associates located in Shrewsbury, MA, USA, and Margaret McNamee, who is with Lund University located in Lund, Sweden. The Research Foundation appreciates the guidance provided by the Project Technical Panelists, the funding provided by the project sponsors, and all others that contributed to this research effort. The content, opinions and conclusions contained in this report are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Fire Protection Research Foundation, NFPA, Technical Panel or Sponsors. The Foundation makes no guaranty or warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of any information published herein. About the Fire Protection Research Foundation The Fire Protection Research Foundation plans, manages, and communicates research on a broad range of fire safety issues in collaboration with scientists and laboratories around the world. The Foundation is an affiliate of NFPA. —— Page iii —— About the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Founded in 1896, NFPA is a global, nonprofit organization devoted to eliminating death, injury, property and economic loss due to fire, electrical and related hazards. The association delivers information and knowledge through more than 300 consensus codes and standards, research, training, education, outreach and advocacy; and by partnering with others who share an interest in furthering the NFPA mission. All NFPA codes and standards can be viewed online for free. NFPA's membership totals more than 65,000 individuals around the world. Keywords: green buildings, sustainable, fire safety, risk, performance, resilience Report number: FPRF-2020-13 Project Manager: Amanda Kimball —— Page iv —— Project Technical Panel Francine Amon, RISE Dave Barber, Arup Anthony Hamins, NIST Amanda Robbins, NRC Canada John Shafer, Washington Twp./Avon (Indiana) Fire Department Debbie Smith, BRE Ray Walker, IFMA Representative Peter Weismantle, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture LLP Val Ziavras, NFPA Birgitte Messerschmidt, NFPA Project Sponsors Property Insurance Research Group (PIRG): AIG CNA Insurance FM Global Liberty Mutual Insurance Tokio Marine America Travelers Insurance Verisk Zurich Insurance Group —— Page v —— Fire Safety Challenges of ‘Green’ Buildings and Attributes Final Report Brian Meacham* and Margaret McNamee** *Meacham Associates Shrewsbury, MA, USA **Division of Fire Safety Engineering Lund University, Sweden Shrewsbury, MA, USA, October 2020 This report has been funded by the Fire Protection Research Foundation Fire Safety Challenges of ‘Green’ Buildings and Attributes Executive Summary In 2012, the Fire Protection Research Foundation (FPRF) supported a literature review related to fire safety challenges of ‘green’ (sustainable) building materials, systems (technologies) and features. The aims of that work were to: identify documented fire incidents in ‘green’ buildings; define a specific set of elements in ‘green’ building design, including configuration and materials, which, without mitigating strategies, increase fire risk, decrease safety or decrease building performance in comparison with ‘traditional’ construction; identify and summarize existing best practice case studies in which the risk introduced by specific ‘green’ building design elements has been explicitly addressed; and compile research studies related to incorporating building safety, life safety and fire safety as an explicit element in ‘green’ building indices, identifying gaps and specific needed research areas. In the eight years since the 2012 report was published, there have been several major fire events, which involved ‘green’ materials, systems and features (collectively, ‘green’ attributes) in buildings, including the tragic Grenfell Tower fire in London (involving combustible insulation); the Dietz & Watson cold storage warehouse in Delanco, New Jersey (involving photovoltaic panels, combustible insulation); and the 2019 energy storage system (ESS) explosion and fire in Arizona. While each of these can be categorized in many ways, they (and many others) include materials, systems and features that are considered ‘green’ or sustainable. Additionally, since 2012, there has been significant research into the fire performance of a wide range of ‘green’ attributes of buildings, and numerous changes and/or additions to regulations, standards and guidance around managing and mitigating associated fire hazards and risks. Further, new ‘green’ attributes continue to be developed and implemented, which could present fire hazards or risks if unmitigated. In response to the major advances that have taken place since 2012, this work presents a comprehensive review of how the landscape of fire safety challenges of ‘green’ attributes of buildings has developed since 2012. It is based on a global information search into: fire events involving ‘green’ and/or sustainable building materials, systems and features; emerging ‘green’ building materials, systems and features; and research, regulatory changes, engineering approaches, risk mitigation strategies, and firefighting tactics associated with fire challenges with ‘green’ and/or sustainable building materials, systems and features. While the research is comprehensive is scope, it is not exhaustive in detail, given the extent of advancement in these areas which has occurred since 2012. And, while significant advancements have been made, gaps remain, and strategies for proactively incorporating fire performance into development of new ‘green’ building materials, systems and features (product development) are lacking, the tools to proactively assess the fire performance of ‘green’ building materials, systems and features at the product level (e.g., fire performance testing), and as installed in buildings, are lacking, and a broader building regulatory framework and design philosophy for achieving sustainable and fire resilient (SAFR) buildings is also lacking. A fundamental aim of this review is to understand the extent to which unintended fire hazards and risks associated with ‘green’ attributes of building have been addressed, are being considered, and continue to emerge. The risk framework presented in Chapter 6 is at the core of this analysis, surrounded by three main themes: societal objectives (to create modern, ‘green’ buildings which do not endanger our climate); the attributes of the buildings and communities which express these societal objectives (materials, systems and design features); and, finally, control mechanisms that are put in place to ensure that these buildings and communities are fire safe (regulations, standards and guidelines). This framework can be pictured as a tetrahedron (triangular pyramid) with four faces, i.e., “Risk and Performance” at the base, and “Societal Objectives”, “Attributes”, and “Control Mechanisms” as the faces, see Figure ES.1a. For simplicity, the 2D projection of the 3D concept (see Figure ES.1b) has been used to exemplify the system and the interactions between the faces of the tetrahedron. Final Report 2 9 October 2020