The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) proposing change for the 2018 revision of the 2015 edition of NFPA 101 Life Safety Code that would increase the allowable smoke compartment in hospitals, according to an article on the Fire Engineering website.

The issue is whether the allowable smoke compartment in hospitals should be increased from 22,500 square feet to 40,000 square feet. July 6, 2015, is the closing date for the receipt of public input, the article said.

NFPA members rejected the proposal at the technical reports session of the NFPA Conference in June 2014 and proponents for the change plan to revisit the issue as part of the revision cycle for the 2018 edition.

The FGI Guidelines help ensure that a new smoke compartment of 40,000 square feet has an occupant load similar to that traditionally associated with a 22,500-square-foot smoke compartment so that additional patients will not be placed at risk of fire within the smoke compartment.

Among the reasons the NFPA membership rejected the size change at the NFPA conference was that smoke compartments in existing hospitals not designed to the FGI Guidelines are limited to 22,500 square feet.

Read the article.