PDH Engineer     PE PDH
PDH Online

Wood - Fire Safety


Quiz Questions

1. Fire prevention basically means preventing the ignition of combustible materials by controlling either the source of heat or the combustible materials. This involves proper design, installation or construction, and maintenance of the building and its contents.
True
False
2. Spread of a fire can be prevented with design methods that limit fire growth and spread within a compartment and with methods that contain fire to the compartment of origin.
True
False
3. Statutory requirements pertaining to fire safety are specified in the building codes or fire codes. These requirements fall into two broad categories: material requirements and building requirements. Material requirements include area and height limitations, fire stops and draft stops, doors and other exits, automatic sprinklers, and fire detectors. Building requirements include such things as combustibility, flame spread, and fire endurance.
True
False
4. Most building codes in the United States are based on model building codes produced by the three building code organizations (Building Officials and Code Administrators International, Inc.; International Conference of Building Officials; and the Southern Building Code Congress International, Inc.).
True
False
5. Based on classifications of building type and occupancy, the codes set limits on the areas and heights of buildings. Major building codes generally recognize five classifications of construction based on types of materials and required fire resistance ratings. The two classifications known as fire-resistant construction (Type I) and noncombustible construction (Type II) basically restrict the construction to noncombustible materials. Wood is permitted to be used more liberally in the other three classifications, which are ordinary (Type III), heavy timber (Type IV), and light-frame (Type V).
True
False
6. Fire safety is improved by automatic sprinklers, property line setbacks, or more fire-resistant construction.
True
False
7. With sufficient heat generation, the initial growth of a fire in a compartment leads to the condition known as a flashover.
True
False
8. The growth, intensity, and duration of the fire is the "load" that determines whether a fire is confined to the room of origin. Whether a given fire will be contained to the compartment depends on the fire resistance of the walls, doors, ceilings, and floors of the compartment.
True
False
9. Fire resistance is the ability of materials or their assemblies to prevent or retard the passage of excessive heat, hot gases, or flames while continuing to support their structural loads.
True
False
10.

Fire-resistance ratings are usually obtained by conducting standard fire tests. In the standard fire-resistance test (ASTM E119), there are three failure criteria: element collapse, passage of flames, or excessive temperature rise on the non-fire-exposed surface.

True
False
11. Unprotected light-frame wood buildings do not have the natural fire resistance achieved with heavier wood members. In these, as in all buildings, attention to good construction details is important to minimize fire hazards.
True
False
12. Codes specify where fire stops and draft stops are required in concealed spaces, and they must be designed to interfere with the passage of flames up or across a building.
True
False
13. Doors can be critical in preventing the spread of fires. Doors left open or doors with little fire resistance can easily defeat the purpose of a fire-rated wall or partition.
True
False
14. Ignition of wood takes place when wood is subject to sufficient heat and in atmospheres that have sufficient oxygen. Ignition can be of two types: piloted or unpiloted. Piloted ignition occurs in the presence of an ignition source (such as a spark or a flame). Unpiloted ignition is ignition that occurs where no pilot source is available.
True
False
15. One of the most important problems associated with fires is the smoke they produce. The term smoke is frequently used in an all-inclusive sense to mean the mixture of pyrolysis products and air that is present near the fire site.
True
False
16. Generally, the two approaches that are used to deal with the smoke problem are:
Limit smoke production.
Control the smoke that has been produced.
All of the above.
17. The load carrying capacity of a structural wood member depends upon its cross-sectional dimensions.
True
False
18. To meet building code and standard specifications, lumber and plywood are treated with flame-retardants to improve their fire performance. The two general application methods are:
Pressure treating
Surface coating.
1&2
None of the above.
19. Flame-retardant treatment of wood generally improves the fire performance by reducing the amount of flammable volatiles released during fire exposure or by reducing the effective heat of combustion, or both.
True
False
20. Inorganic salts are the most commonly used flame-retardants for interior wood products, and their characteristics have been known for more than 50 years.
True
False