A refuge area or floor is intended as a place where people living or working on the upper floors of a high-rises would find ‘refuge’ in case of a fire as they may not be able to get out of the building. However fire auditors regularly come across refuge areas that are unkempt, used storage spaces or the space blatantly misused. In fact a refuge area must have fire exits at not more than 33 meters, self closing doors, have a drinking water provisions, first aid box and fire extinguishers. NBC stipulates refuge floors after 24 meters height and thereafter every 15 meters of the building. Hence providing the refuge floor comes in at the design stage as is the case with other passive fire protection measures like staircase dimensions, separate basement access, proper building setbacks and ability of roads to take 45 tonnes of weight which is how much a fire tender would typically weigh. Staircases assume an important role as fire escape vertical routes and their design cannot be overlooked. Imagine a staircase width of just 800 mm as against the stipulated 1.5 meters which our experts found at one site. Also the doors to the stairwell must open out and be equipped with panic bars.
