In Australia, early fire detection, occupant notification and automated suppression systems are mandatory for commercial properties and larger residential buildings. They promote safety and sustainability, as structural fires can be highly destructive and environmentally damaging.
Observing Australian fire standards ensures compliance with the National Construction Code, state laws and Bushfire Attack Levels.
However, going beyond the minimum requirements is crucial for reducing the risk and mitigating the effects of fires — regardless of origin — even further.
Construction professionals can draw on best practices worldwide to innovate current fire-resistant building designs in the country.
Creating defensible landscape
Bushfire Attack Level assessments involve thoughtful landscape design as much as fire-resistant construction. Defensible space is one of the core principles, creating a low-flammability zone around the property to prevent direct flame contact and reduce exposure to radiant heat. Maximising topography when positioning the facility minimises fire risk, as upward slopes fuel blazes more intensely.
Bushfires typically spread through vegetation. Still, some plants help contain the situation. They can keep the incident manageable so your active fire suppression system can extinguish it.
Delineate your facility’s buffer zone with firewise plants. These types of vegetation have high moisture content, contain low levels of flammable resins or oils, don’t produce combustible debris like pine needles and dry, dead leaves, and grow with low or open branches. Only some native species qualify as firewise, so consider non-native plants to bolster bushfire protection.
Draw inspiration from landscape architects and garden designers in South Africa — a country with similar climate patterns to Australia and equally prone to bushfire, if not more. South African firescaping experts use succulents, such as the Echeveria and ice plant, to temper embers that try to engulf vegetated areas.
Using fire-resistant building materials
Active and passive fire protection principles go hand in hand. Built-in barriers made of non-combustible or fire-rated materials slow the spread of flames. This buys crucial time for your facility’s fire suppression system to detect and neutralise the hazard and for building occupants to evacuate to safety.
Non-combustible walls are a pillar of fire-resistant construction. They help isolate flames without sacrificing their structural integrity. Hempcrete has proved to be an excellent material for non-load-bearing wall applications, as a hemp block factory survived a bushfire in Hester Brook, Western Australia, in 2022.
“Interestingly, the blocks that survived were stacked on [wooden] pallets,” the facility’s owner said. “The pallets burned down, but the blocks did not.”
Fire-resistant materials may ignite, but they’re effective insulators that prevent heat transfer between rooms. Airtight construction lightens the load of your active fire suppression system, as a burning indoor area with no gaps starves the flames of oxygen and seals off pathways for smoke and hot gases.
The National Construction Code doesn’t explicitly prohibit the use of some materials in favour of others, which can make it difficult to select them. California — the most wildfire-prone state in the United States — solves this problem by creating a list of approved products.
The Office of the State Marshall relies on rigorous testing to approve hardware, wall assemblies and other construction products. Consult its handbook to see which ones meet its stringent standards to make informed decisions.
Incorporating smart technologies into the central hub
The building management system is the central hub that controls all core systems within the facility, including active fire suppression. It should be in the most secure interior room in the building, which is generally the physical centre of the property.
This location shields the control system from common environmental hazards associated with certain floors and exterior walls. Being close to everything minimises cable lengths and signal degradation caused by distance, interference, noise and bad wiring. The room’s relative inaccessibility reduces foot traffic, making it easy to filter out unauthorised personnel.
Europe has moved past designing secure business management systems alone. There’s growing interest in smart fire suppression and protection in Germany and France, incorporating the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence into the central hub. Advanced sensors and machine learning enable predictive data analytics, remote monitoring, reliable hazard prediction, precise early detection, automated responses and targeted agent release.
Smart fire protection systems reduce the chances of false alarms. They can detect fire indicators more accurately, averting unnecessary downtime and panic. Smart technologies trigger emergency response protocols only when necessary for coordinated safety management.
Adopting stationary energy storage
Connecting your active fire suppression system to battery energy storage ensures you can fight fires during outages. Your facility may lose access to utility services during disasters, so you should pursue self-sufficiency by generating electricity through renewable sources and storing your surplus energy in-house.
The problem with stationary energy storage systems is that they usually rely on lithium-ion batteries, which are prone to thermal runaway. This phenomenon occurs when the battery generates more heat than it can dissipate, triggering a self-sustaining chain reaction that can lead to explosions and destructive electrical fires within a short period.
Using a different battery chemistry can dramatically reduce the hazards of thermal runaway. Unfortunately, most second-life electric vehicle batteries are lithium-ion because non-lithium-ion versions are harder and more expensive to source.
For practical reasons, build a stationary energy storage system with lithium-ion batteries in accordance with NFPA 855 to ensure proper installation. The 2026 edition is the latest version of the standard, so it contains the most advanced installation techniques.
Make the most of your building’s automated fire suppression system
Fire safety is a never-ending pursuit, regardless of property or location. Active fire suppression can make your facility more resilient to flames, but it has limitations.
Use a defensible landscape and fire-resistant materials to reduce risk. Also, embrace smart technology and stationary battery storage to extinguish fires as early as possible with or without the grid.
These measures can help keep properties protected in the face of flames.
