Fire safety in malls: Curtains for fire hazards localization and safe evacuation

With the development of countries, the purchasing capacity rises, therefore the number of shopping malls increases. Shopping malls have intricate layouts with large retail and atrium area. Moreover, a lot of violations in terms of fire safety may be committed. These factors increase the risk of fire danger in the building of the shopping center. The object of research is a typical three-story shopping center. The article evaluates the involvement of a fire curtain, in the form of a roller curtain, in ensuring fire safety during evacuation. Method. The "Sigma PB" software package was used to create a computer model of the shopping center and simulate the spread of fire and evacuation. Five scenarios were generated, and the spread of fire hazard factors and evacuation under fire conditions were simulated. Results. Based on the modeling, it was concluded that the absence of a fire curtain does not contribute to limiting the spread of fire hazard factors and does not worsen the condition of evacuation routes in the considered scenarios. The use of the fire curtain EI60 is inappropriate.