What is the Fire Compartment Area for an Automobile Garage?
2 Answers
For open-type, staggered-floor, and sloping-floor automobile garages, the interconnected upper and lower floor areas should be calculated cumulatively. The maximum allowable floor area for each fire compartment should not exceed 2.0 times the values listed in the table above. For mechanical parking garages with driveways and personnel occupancy, the maximum allowable fire compartment area should be reduced by 35% compared to the values in the table above. Fire Safety in Automobile Garages: Automobiles are the most widely used means of transportation today, handling heavy passenger and freight transport tasks. Automobile garages (or parking lots) are facilities used for parking or vehicle maintenance. In the event of a fire in an automobile or garage, extinguishing the fire is challenging, and the consequences can be severe. Therefore, it is essential to strengthen safety management for both automobiles and garages. Introduction to Automobile Garages: Commonly referred to as garages, these are buildings designed for parking automobiles powered by internal combustion engines and without rails, such as buses, trucks, and engineering vehicles.
I have participated in the design of several car garage projects, where the area of fire compartments is a critical point. According to the 'Code for Fire Protection Design of Buildings', it is generally required that each fire compartment in a garage does not exceed 1,000 square meters, especially for ordinary enclosed structures. This ensures that in case of a fire, the flames do not spread too quickly, affecting safety. If an automatic sprinkler system is installed, the area can be increased to around 2,000 square meters, enhancing practicality. I recommend considering the actual usage during the design phase, such as the number of columns within the compartment and the layout of fire access routes, as these details are crucial for fire protection effectiveness. Never exceed the limits, otherwise the inspection will fail, requiring rework, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive. In short, remember, safety comes first.
