5 tips for better fire safety in multi-storey buildings

Published: 24.04.23

How do you ensure fire safety in the attic of multi-storey buildings? Should a fire safety engineer always be used, or can the housing association carry out its own checks to increase safety? A new campaign provides answers and some simple tips for better fire safety.

Housing associations can also make an effort to increase fire safety in their properties. The Danish Social and Housing Agency has therefore prepared new campaign material to guide building owners and boards of housing associations on the conditions they should be particularly aware of when checking fire safety in the top floor.

The 'Use top floor' campaign also offers DBI’s guidelines on the most frequently occurring faults in the execution of roof renovations and instructions on how to review the attic and roof structures in order to safeguard against the spread of fire. In addition, it is recommended that the attic is included in the property’s operating and maintenance plan, so that a systematic check of fire safety is ensured.

Campaign triggered by large fire

The background to the fire protection campaign is a violent roof fire in a multi-storey residential building in Copenhagen last year. Because the fire that broke out in the ceiling spread at lightning speed across the roof and several floors down into the building. The result was a completely damaged building that had to be demolished.

DBI investigated the sequence of the fire and it became clear that the fire could probably have been limited to a few stairways if the building had only been erected and maintained as specified in the building permit from 1937, and fire-related separations had been carried out in the pitched ceiling and above the party wall against the roofing.

Faults fire protection in every third building

Since the fire, fire experts and inhabitants of multi-storey buildings have been wondering about the fire safety in similar properties and how great the risk is of a recurrence of a large fire.

"However, the many fire checks in multi-storey buildings that DBI has carried out since the fire show that approximately one in three buildings have fire protection faults. With the campaign, housing associations now have a tool to assess the fire safety of their properties. But if you are in the slightest doubt, you should contact a fire safety officer who can review the fire safety in the building," says Ib Bertelsen, Director of DBI.

See the campaign 'Use top floor' (in Danish)