What’s the Difference Between Active Fire Protection and Passive Fire Protection?

Did you know that according to the latest data from the National Fire Protection Association, there have been at least 362,500 fires per year every year over the last decade? To make matters worse, a fire can double its size every 30 seconds, which means that a small wastebasket fire can set an entire home ablaze in less than five minutes!

Because fires are such a prevalent and dangerous threat, engineers have developed two main kinds of fire protection systems, which, according to the fire protection handbook, are passive fire protection, and active fire protection.

The main difference between these two kinds of fire protection services is how they deal with a fire. Active fire protection products have moving parts that involve an action of some kind. Passive fire protection products, on the other hand, are designed to control and limit the area to which a fire spreads so that a structure’s occupants have more time to escape.

Active fire protection products can either work to extinguish a fire, such as a sprinkler system or a fire extinguisher, or they can alarm or alert a building’s occupants of the impending threat, like a smoke alarm.

Passive fire protection products are a bit less obvious, since they’re most often incorporated into a structure’s design. For example, your home may be made with drywall that contains gypsum–one of the many different kinds of passive fire protection products used a construction material. Gypsum is a plaster that will release water vapor when exposed to extreme temperatures, effectively slowing down the spread of the fire.

With each of these different kinds of fire protection products safely in place, the threat fires pose to a home is safely minimized. If you have any questions about these kinds of fire protection products, feel free to ask in the comments. More research here.