Fire-safe parking garages: now and in the future

Most underground parking garages were built in the 20th century, according to the laws and standards of the time. In the meantime, cars have changed. The increasing number of electric and hybrid vehicles is good for our society, but it also poses risks. Many parking garages are not sufficient to ensure fire safety.

Today's cars contain up to 75% more plastic than before, hybrid cars pose a greater fire risk, and the battery pack of electric and hybrid cars can continue to burn and is more difficult to extinguish. They also release more smoke and toxic gases. Thus, the risk of damage within underground parking garages is greater now than in the past. Extreme heat and rapid fire spread can damage other vehicles and there is a risk of structural instability of the building.

At Promat, they like to show what can be done about the current situation. It is of great importance that parking garages are renovated in the coming years. Promat supplies solutions to increase the fire resistance of support structures within underground parking garages and to prevent the spread of fire. This also ensures compliance with future safety requirements, as current legislation lags behind technical developments.

"The solution we offer is quite simple and very durable," says Sam De Graeve, product manager at Promat. "By offering fire-resistant cladding that you can easily attach to walls and ceilings in high-risk areas, you increase safety but don't have to close off the parking garage to visitors. In addition, we apply Fire Stopping products to seal penetrations and prevent lateral and vertical fire spread."

Building structure preserved

PROMATECT®-H and PROMATECT®-T fire-resistant cladding guarantees that the structure of the building will be preserved for 120 or 240 minutes in the event of a fire and ensures that the fire department has time to do its job. PROMATECT®-H is a non-combustible, steam-hardened calcium silicate board that has been used for more than forty years for the fire-resistant protection of steel and concrete load-bearing structures. PROMATECT®-T belongs to a new generation of high-quality boards for protecting concrete structures, escape routes and high-risk areas. The latter sheeting in particular is extremely suitable for use in tunnels and underground parking garages. De Graeve: "On the basis of the certificates obtained, Promat guarantees a service life of at least 25 years on the fire-resistant sheeting, but there are numerous examples of tunnels where the sheets have been in place for much longer without compromising on performance."

New issues

"We see many fire organizations and municipalities struggling with what is the best way to protect parking garages and often apartments above them. For them, fires caused by electric cars are also relatively new. We want to offer them a piece of security and point out that there are solutions available with our products. By doing so, they increase passive fire safety enormously," said Henk Winkels, area sales manager at Promat.

More hybrid and electric cars

Promat products are manufactured according to strict quality control systems and to the highest standards. The solutions meet the requirements of current data as well as higher requirements that can be applied from a safety point of view today. Thus, with Promat's solutions the parking lot is fire safe now, but also in the future, when even more electric and hybrid cars appear.