Fire Scenario – the Document That Decides the First Minutes

A detector picks up smoke. What exactly happens in second one, and what in second thirty? Which smoke vent opens, when do the lifts go down, do the locks on the escape routes release, and at what point does the voice announcement start?

These answers are not improvised during an incident – they are written down in advance, in the fire scenario.

Fire scenario – definition and legal basis

Under the Polish Regulation of the Minister of the Interior and Administration of 5 August 2023 on the approval of designs for compliance with fire protection requirements, a fire scenario is a description of the sequence of possible events during a fire, representative of the place where it may occur – in particular a fire zone or a smoke zone.

It must cover how the fire protection equipment and other technical measures operate, how they interact with each other, and the organisational arrangements needed for them to work properly. In practice, it is the bridge between design and operation: the document translates the designer’s intent into a specific sequence of “what activates, when and in what order”.

When is a fire scenario required?

A fire scenario is prepared when fire protection equipment is designed for a building: a fire alarm system (SSP), fixed firefighting installations, smoke exhaust or smoke control systems. It forms part of the documentation approved by a certified fire safety expert (rzeczoznawca).

The approval requirement applies, among others, to:

• buildings classified in the human-occupancy hazard categories ZL I, ZL II and ZL V;
• medium-rise and taller buildings in categories ZL III and ZL IV;
• public buildings and collective accommodation buildings designed for more than 50 people;
• production and storage zones with an area of over 1,000 m² and a fire load density above 500 MJ/m²;
• multi-storey and enclosed car parks requiring smoke exhaust.

What should a fire scenario contain?

• Building characteristics – the human-occupancy hazard category, fire resistance class, division into fire and smoke zones, expected number of occupants.
• A list of installed fire protection equipment and interacting systems.
• Assumed events – fire origin locations representative of each zone.
• The activation sequence of equipment – stage I and stage II alarms, delay times, the order of and delays between control actions.
• Evacuation rules, including voice alarm system (DSO) messages and the release of access control.
• Support for rescue teams – firefighters’ lifts, power cut-off switches, power supply for pumps.
• Procedures for returning the systems to monitoring mode after the alarm ends.

From the scenario to the SSP control matrix – who prepares what

The scenario exists on four levels, and only the full set makes sense:

1. The fire safety expert’s description sets out the assumptions.
2. The designer’s control table translates them into equipment states in each zone.
3. The fire automation engineer’s control matrix is the algorithm programmed into the control panels: time dependencies, technical constraints, start-up sequences.
4. Procedures for the user in the Fire Safety Instructions.

A mismatch between these levels is the most common cause of problems during acceptance by the State Fire Service (PSP). Each level is created at a different time and by a different party – and no one is formally responsible for keeping them consistent.

Fire scenario vs Fire Safety Instructions

These are two different documents with different audiences. The scenario is technical and describes how the building will behave. The Fire Safety Instructions (IBP) are organisational and describe how people should behave: who announces the evacuation, where the assembly points are, what the security staff do after a stage I alarm.

The IBP must be updated at least once every two years and after any change in the use of the building or its fire protection conditions, while fire protection equipment must be inspected and maintained at least once a year.

If the IBP describes control actions different from those actually programmed, the staff are learning a scenario the building does not know.

The most common mistakes in fire scenarios

The scenario is created at the design stage and stays in a binder – meanwhile, the building keeps changing. A new partition wall splits a smoke zone, a tenant locks a grille across an escape route, the SSP control panel is replaced with a newer model, and no one updates the matrix. Replacing the control panel alone is a good moment to verify, during an SSP installation inspection, whether the programmed control actions still match the documentation.

On top of that come the classics:

• no integration tests covering ventilation and lifts;
• control actions described in general terms instead of specific times;
• a scenario written for a building that was ultimately built differently.

Each of these problems comes to light at the worst possible moment.

Checklist: what to verify before PSP acceptance

1. Does the scenario reflect the building after design changes, rather than the version from two years ago?
2. Does each zone have a complete sequence described – including delay times and the stage II alarm?
3. Are the control actions free of conflicts, e.g. smoke exhaust and gas extinguishing in the same room?
4. Do access control, gates and doors on escape routes release automatically?
5. Have integration tests of all control actions been carried out, not just detector tests?
6. Has the content of the scenario been transferred into the Fire Safety Instructions and staff training?

Is the fire scenario in your building still up to date?

EHS Consulting prepares and updates Fire Safety Instructions, verifies whether the scenario matches the actual condition of the building, prepares and runs trial evacuations, and delivers fire protection and first aid training.

Legal basis: Regulation of the Polish Minister of the Interior and Administration of 5 August 2023 on the approval of the site development plan, architectural and construction design, technical design and fire protection equipment design for compliance with fire protection requirements (Journal of Laws 2023, item 1563); Regulation of the Minister of the Interior and Administration of 7 June 2010 on the fire protection of buildings, other structures and areas. Legal status: September 2026.