Fire and iron – a guide to fire door ironmongery

Douglas Masterson discusses the importance of fire doors, their specification and inspection, and the maintenance of the fitted ironmongery.

Fire safety is of paramount importance in any building, no matter its intended purpose, age, or location. Building designers, engineers, architects, inspectors, and owners all have a part to play in ensuring that the building and occupants are as safe as possible in the event of a fire. To understand the role of fire doors in optimising safety, we need to explore what a fire door does, what architectural ironmongery should be fitted to it, and how it should be maintained to ensure safety and compliance.

What is a fire door and what does it do?

Fire doors form a big part of a building’s fire safety, passively protecting those inside from fire by creating compartments that fire struggles to pass. Buildings are typically divided into these compartments by using fire-resistant walls and ceilings, with any gaps plugged by a fire door with the same resistance as the walls and ceiling e.g. 30 or 60 minutes.

Once a fire door is closed, it provides a seal that stops any fire and smoke from spreading, creating a safe and protected escape route for people within the building, as well as protection for those entering the building to tackle the fire. With all this in mind, fire doors must be installed to replicate their test conditions, which also applies to everything fitted to the door, e.g. the ironmongery and hardware. Improper fitting will also nullify any third-party certification or CE/UKCA marking, meaning the door possibly doesn’t meet safety regulations.

As part of the Fire Protection Association's continuing commitment to increase fire safety awareness across the built environment, a number of informative feature articles are available to read on our website. You can read the full article here.