Fire Safety in Buildings: Challenges and Opportunities for the Performance-Based Approach in Brazil

Resumo

Throughout history, major events — such as the Great Fire of London, the September 11 attacks, and the Andraus and Joelma building fires in São Paulo — have exposed gaps in fire protection regulations, leading to new rules aimed at preventing similar damage. However, these regulations are often reactive, implemented only after tragedies, based on analyses of specific failures. While this improves safety practices, it is insufficient to prevent initial incidents, emphasizing the need for proactive strategies, especially for buildings with complex adaptation challenges.
The performance-based approach offers flexibility to meet architectural demands, optimize protection, reduce costs, and support both new constructions and retrofits. Its goal is to protect lives and property by comparing safe evacuation time with structural failure time under critical conditions. This method benefits buildings that do not fit well within prescriptive codes, such as tall or complex structures, innovative designs, large-span warehouses without compartmentation, and heritage buildings.
In Brazil, fire prevention approvals mostly rely on prescriptive methods. Low national academic output and lack of specific regulations for performance-based design reinforce this. Although well-established international guidelines exist, their application in the country faces challenges related to different climatic conditions, locally available materials, occupancy patterns, and other regional factors.
The implementation of this method in Brazil is hindered by the lack of technical knowledge among professionals, the absence of normative guidelines, and the high initial costs, which generate resistance from clients. This work aims to discuss the challenges faced in Brazil for implementing this method, as well as the available opportunities, demonstrating how realistic fire event simulation can bring benefits to the Brazilian context. Therefore, the consolidation of the performance-based design approach in Brazil requires investments in technical training, the development of normative guidelines adapted to national conditions, incentives for applied research, and the implementation of demonstrative case studies.