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The basic goal of the smoke control system is to maintain a tenable environment. A tenable
environment allows:
• The building occupants to evacuate safely from the building.
• The firefighters to get quickly to the fire zone.
The first step to take in designing a smoke control system is to lay out the smoke control zones,
as previously explained. After the smoke zones are established, address the following design
factors:
• The zone-by-zone smoke control plan.
• The amount of pressure needed to contain smoke.
• Proper separation between zones.
• The fans and duct work used in the smoke control system.
• Dampers required for smoke control.
• The air inlets and outlets used in the smoke control system.
Smoke control systems must be engineered by qualified personnel. Complete calculations of
system designs are the responsibilities of the Engineer of Record and go beyond the scope of this
publication. A high level of coordination is required between the engineers, Authority Having
Jurisdiction (AHJ), and system designers who are involved in the process.
You must create a smoke control plan for each zone in your building. Each smoke control zone
plan consists of the number of steps the smoke control system must take to contain the smoke in
the building zone. For each zone, you must decide:
• Whether you should depressurize the zone if a fire occurs.
• If the zone is to be depressurized, by how much you should depressurize it.
• Which adjacent zones should be pressurized and how much pressure is required.
Some zones in a building may need special consideration. As mentioned earlier, zones that have
gas fire extinguisher systems should not be vented (depressurized) and the zones surrounding the
fire zone with such a system should not be pressurized. You may not be able to pressurize other
areas, such as hospital labs or biological research labs, due to the risk of contaminating
surrounding areas with germs or toxins from these facilities.
Consider the number of zones surrounding the fire zone that should be pressurized. While, in
theory, all you need to do is to pressurize all of the zones immediately surrounding the fire zone, it
is possible that smoke can find a way around the pressurized areas and infiltrate distant zones.
Thus, depending on the size of the building and the capacity of the smoke control system, you may
decide to pressurize more zones.
Note: An increase in the number of zones to be pressurized means a corresponding increase in
the size of the air supply system.
Make certain to write down the state that all fans, dampers, and other smoke control equipment
should be in to control smoke in each zone. Then program this information into the smoke control
system.
Designing a Smoke Control System
Basic Goal
How to Begin
Engineering
Responsibility
Creating the
Zone-By-Zone
Smoke Control Plan
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