What Is Fire-Resistant?

A fire-resistant product has received certification and a rating verifying its adherence to safety standards and its success in tests of its fire-retardant capabilities. Generally, the terms fire-resistant, fire resistance and fire-retardant mean the same thing, but fire-resistant refers to the actual safety standard.

Basic Definition

• The term fire-resistant refers to an item's ability to withstand fire and retard its spread. The Underwriters Laboratories (UL), an independent product safety certification organization, issues fire-resistance ratings on a variety of assemblies and materials, rating them either Class A, B or C. Class A offers the highest protection, B less, and C the least.

Products Covered

• UL issues fire-resistance ratings for construction materials including walls and partitions, beams and roofs, columns, floors, construction joint systems, electrical circuit protective systems, through-penetration firestop systems, duct assemblies and dampers, fire doors, glazing and glazing-related equipment.

Product Development

• Private companies develop the assemblies and products in compliance with UL fire resistance standards, then submit the items for testing and certification by UL.

Testing

• UL evaluates more than 19,000 items annually. UL tests each product for compliance with safety standards by exposing it to fire in a controlled lab experiment. The tester measures the product's ability to retard the spread of fire at prescribed intervals. So, the product's fire rating reflects its ability to resist fire damage, retard fire spread and the length of time it does so.

Database

• UL provides an online database of products representing the 20 billion items from 66,000 manufacturers that carry the UL approval mark, including all fire-resistant products. The database also includes product safety standards, such as standards for fire resistance.