Depok, August 23rd 2023. Firestopping is a form of passive fire protection system used to close gaps around openings and seepages between joints in walls or floors that are designed to be fire resistant and prevent the spread of smoke. Firestopping is also an effort that is proven through testing to maintain the level of fire resistance of walls and other building elements.
Building fire safety must be considered in the entire series of building management which includes the design, construction, commissioning tests, operational, and maintenance stages. The availability of experts including engineers in the field of fire safety and protection is a challenge in maintaining development results from fire hazard. Based on this background, Professor of the Faculty of Engineering (FT) at the Universitas Indonesia (UI), Prof. Ir. Yulianto S. Nugroho, M.Sc., Ph.D., together with Kamalika Kundu and Dana Lutfi Ilmansyah launched a book entitled “Firestopping on Buildings”, which was launched on Wednesday (02/08) at Makara 04 Smart Meeting Room FT UI. This launch was also organized as a result of collaboration between the Student Chapter of Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE) UI and PT Hilti Indonesia. At the book launch ceremony, guests who played a direct role in offline fire safety were present. It is hoped that they will learn more about the firestop system to protect buildings and people from the dangers of fire and smoke.
In this book, which can be downloaded for free on the hilti.co.id website, Prof. Yulianto tries to answer the challenges of fire safety in buildings which can be used as a reference source to understand definitions, review standards, design and implementation, as well as inspection of firestopping in buildings. Prof. Yulianto revealed that he discussed a lot about the importance of fire safety aspects becoming scientific studies and part of the curriculum as well as research activities by FTUI Mechanical Engineering students.
“References regarding firestopping are still relatively limited in Indonesia. Therefore, through discussions with Mas Dana and Ibu Kamalika, we are trying to present a book that is relatively easy for the public to digest. Of course, this also includes fellow students and lecturers who may be interested in this field,” said the FTUI Professor in the field of Fire Safety Engineering.
Dean of FTUI, Prof. Dr. Heri Hermansyah, S.T, M.Eng., IPU., revealed, “The presence of the book “Firestopping on Buildings” is an attempt to increase public awareness, both starting from the planners who build or contractors and later from policy makers and friends of the Fire Service in Indonesia.”
Meanwhile, Dana Lutfi Ilmansyah added that the book technically discusses passive fire protection systems by giving buildings the ability to withstand fire and smoke by carrying out compartmentalization. “This book will provide some kind of information to the general public as well as to practitioners in the field of building and construction so that more people are more concerned with fire protection in buildings,” said Codes & Approval Manager of PT Hilti Indonesia regarding the book which is available for free.
With the launch of this book, the three authors hope that there will be more discussions on passive protection and can contribute to advancing to the next level. Not only that, this book is expected to mitigate the importance of fire safety for the construction industry and the general public in fire safety solutions.
