What is a passive fire product?

Passive fire products are the first line of defense in a fire, and they work by reacting to fire without human intervention, sealing openings to contain fire in a building by means of compartmentation, by retarding the passage of flames across a surface, and by resisting the penetration of fire into structural elements such as doors. This not only limits the damage to property but gives time for people to be evacuated safely from the building and allows firefighters to get to the scene.

Passive fire products can be physical barriers such as fire barrier curtains or intumescent products that react when heat is applied in a fire. These passive fire products and fire protection systems do not require human intervention in order to perform their valuable duty. Other passive fire products are flame retardants to retard the spread of flames across a surface. These passive fire products can be in the form of coatings and paints for hard surfaces, or aerosol sprays for soft surfaces such as cloth and similar materials such as artificial flowers and foliage.