Shanles
Pine (February 2003)
Location: Shanles Pine, Co Louth
Building description
The building was use for the manufacture and assembly of wooden furniture units.
The external walls of the building were solid block walls. The roof construction
consisted of PUR cored 40mm thick insulated panels with standard polyurethane
core fixed to timber purlins. There was a dividing wall within the building
consisting of single skin steel sheeting and translucent sheets.
The building contained an area for spraying the furniture.
The perimeter of this area consisted of block walls with two fire doors,
one of which was an exit while the other separated the spray room from
the adjoining store area. The spray area was fitted with a roof mounted
filtered air extraction unit that prevented fumes from the spraying process
escaping to the local atmosphere. This unit was made of steel and had
a flue attached.
Fire
At approximately 3.30pm Saturday 22nd February a neighbour noticed smoke coming
from the spray room area of the building. It is thought that the fire started
about 10 –15 minutes before the alarm was raised. The fire brigade
were called and arrived at about 3.45pm. At this stage the fire was fully
developed. At approx. 4.00pm the fire was under control.
| Observations (inside
the building) |
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There was extensive damage to
the extractor unit. The steel frame had partially collapsed
as a result of the fire (picture 1) |
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The collapse of the frame caused the flue
to fall in with it, resulting in the panels in that area deflecting
(picture 2) |
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The timber purlins had extensive damage
to them (picture 3). Even though the purlins were badly damaged
the roof did not collapse |
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There was a line of panel that was directly
over a compartment wall. Part of the panel was in the spray
room the remainder in the adjoining storeroom. There was no
fire spread through the panel from the spray room to the storeroom
(pictures 4 & 5). |
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| Picture 1. |
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Picture 2. |
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Picture 3. |
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| Picture 4. |
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Picture 5. |
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| Observations (outside
the building) |
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Plastisol had delaminated from
the steel (picture 6) |
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Panel side laps remained intact |
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End laps had opened slightly |
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One panel had bowed slightly across its
width. This allowed the flames to escape to the outside but
as shown in picture 7 there is only smoke damage to the exposed
insulation |
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There was exposed timber purlins which had
severe fire damage yet the insulation material of the panel
was in good condition and had only charred slightly thus preventing
further damage to the insulation by the fire (picture 8). |
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| Picture 6. |
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Picture 7. |
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Picture 8. |
Conclusion
The standard polyurethane insulated Roof Panels
performed extremely well. The fire was contained within the spray room
until the “fire door” failed. The panels did not allow
the fire to spread within the insulation core to the adjoining rooms.
Back to top.
Also in this section:
Fire performance
of insulated panels | Guide
to fire safety | Fire
tests |
Findings
of fire research on major fires |
