New Book Connects Structural and Fire Protection Engineering to Construct Safer Buildings

Code Council, McGraw-Hill Professional Partner on New Fire Design Guide

A new publication for the structural design of fire-resistant buildings combines the disciplines of structural engineering and fire protection engineering to offer a screening tool that can assess fire as a structural load and how it may impact structures.

Structural Fire Loads: Theory and Principles, just released by the International Code Council and McGraw-Hill Professional, is written for structural and fire protection engineers, architects, educators, researchers and building officials who will benefit from the book’s practical design examples presented in a step-by-step computational format. The text details slow, medium, fast, and ultra-fast fire growth, and simplifies complex and comprehensive computer analysis of fire loads.

“Readers are offered a complete understanding of how fire affects buildings and how a desired performance can be built into structures,” said Dr. W. Gene Corley, P.E., S.E., who wrote the book’s foreword and is one of the world’s foremost experts in analyzing buildings damaged by bombs, earthquakes, fire and tornadoes. “The book is timely in that it provides both prescriptive and performance-based procedures for the design of fire-resistant buildings, and it provides guidance for both design professionals and building officials.”

To order the book, call 1-800-786-4452 or visit www.iccsafe.org/fireloads.

The author of Structural Fire Loads is prominent instructor and researcher Leo Razdolsky, Ph. D., S.E., who has more than 45 years experience in structural engineering. His expertise includes high-rise and mid-rise building design, field inspections and construction management. Dr. Razdolsky travels the globe teaching the topic of structural fire loads.

“The approach used by Dr. Razdolsky is unique in that it considers the effects of fire exposure as a structural load, bridging the gap between fire protection engineering and structural engineering,” said ICC Principal Staff Engineer John Henry, P.E. “Fire exposure produces thermal effects that cause structural responses in a building’s structural system, therefore fire load effects can be treated as a structural load.”

The International Code Council is a member-focused association dedicated to helping the building safety community and construction industry provide safe and sustainable construction through the development of codes and standards used in the design, build and compliance process. Most U.S. communities and many global markets choose the International Codes.