Industry-Specific Guides
Reviewed by a licensed fire protection engineer Smoke compartments and fire barriers are the physical infrastructure that makes defend-in-place possible in hospitals. NFPA 101 requires healthcare floors to be divided into compartments no larger than 5,000 square feet, separated by 1-hour or 2-hour fire-rated
Industry-Specific Guides
Reviewed by a licensed fire protection engineer Healthcare fire safety is built on a fundamentally different strategy than commercial buildings. NFPA 101, Chapters 18 and 19, require hospitals to defend in place rather than evacuate — compartmentalizing floors with smoke barriers, suppressing fires with sprinklers, and moving patients horizontally to safe
Industry-Specific Guides
Reviewed by a licensed fire protection engineer Hospitals do not evacuate during fires — they defend in place. NFPA 101 requires healthcare facilities to compartmentalize floors into smoke-rated sections so patients move horizontally to safe zones rather than down stairwells. Sprinklers suppress fires at the source, smoke barriers contain spread,