On 22 November 2023, SFPE Benelux and VVBA organised their fourth joint expert afternoon on fire safety in Vianen. The theme—parking garage fire safety—brought together current developments in firefighting, vehicle technology, regulation, existing buildings, and fixed fire suppression.

Chairs Patries Robijn and John van Lierop guided participants through a programme that showed why large and underground parking garages demand project-specific engineering. Vehicle types, geometry, surroundings, intervention options, and installed systems all influence the appropriate safety concept.

Fire safety in a large underground parking garage is rarely a standard solution: every project requires an integrated assessment.

The fire service perspective on parking garages

Erik Bijma from the Noord-Holland Noord Safety Region discussed new developments from the fire service perspective. He explained that regulations primarily address the consequences of fire, while support for firefighting operations has traditionally received less attention. New environmental legislation gives intervention somewhat greater consideration, including requirements for sprinklers in certain situations.

For a safe intervention, firefighters need answers to three basic questions:

• What is burning?
• Where is the fire located?
• Is sufficient cooling capacity available?

In underground garages, these questions may remain unanswered for too long. Early intervention is critical, while sprinkler and smoke-control systems can support firefighting by limiting fire size, improving conditions, and helping identify the fire location. Erik therefore called for earlier fire service involvement in parking garage design.

Alternative-fuel vehicles and fire behaviour

David den Boer from Peutz reviewed developments involving battery electric vehicles (BEVs), internal-combustion engine vehicles (ICEs), hybrid vehicles (HEVs), and fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs).

The overall heat-release behaviour of ICE and electric-vehicle fires can be broadly comparable, although the characteristic peak associated with a rupturing fuel tank is absent in an EV fire. Battery fires introduce other concerns, including greater release of hazardous hydrogen fluoride and potentially long-duration involvement of the battery pack.

Less research is available for hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. Early findings suggest potentially higher heat release, but the limited dataset does not yet support firm conclusions. Explosion risk and uncontrolled hydrogen discharge remain important points of attention.

NEN 6067 and fire safety measures

Bram Kersten from LBP│Sight presented the draft NEN 6067 standard for parking garage fire safety. Development began in 2016, and a public draft was published in 2023.

The method combines expected fire size with the presence and value of safety measures. Starting from a garage without provisions, measures are assembled into a package and assessed against a corrected maximum value. Factors such as the presence of electric vehicles can influence the result.

The standard also includes a method for assessing fire spread. It cannot, however, be used to remove a mandatory sprinkler system required under Dutch building regulations.

Assessing existing parking garages in practice

Jacco Huijzer and Yvonne van Koert from Nieman Consulting Engineers examined parking garage safety through the historical legal framework and practical project examples.

National performance requirements have only applied since 2003, and older permits reflect the knowledge and standards of their time. An existing garage may therefore still provide a level of safety equivalent to current building rules. Enforcement should remain connected to the primary regulatory objectives: preventing casualties and limiting fire spread to the surroundings.

Projects involving a green façade, photovoltaic panels, or another apparently limited modification can trigger reassessment of the complete fire safety concept. The examples showed how quickly discussion arises about the appropriate safety level and the influence of the surrounding environment.

Sprinkler and water-mist systems

Cor Eckers from EFPC discussed sprinkler and water-mist systems within NEN 6067. Both are automatic, independent of human behaviour, and continuously available, but their operation and design characteristics differ.

NEN, NFPA, and FM standards all contain design values for motor-vehicle storage, but those values vary considerably. A well-designed suppression system can support fire service intervention by limiting fire size and providing useful information about the location of the fire.

Specific vehicle types require specific attention. The potentially longer duration of an EV battery fire is reflected in NEN 6067 through a required discharge duration longer than the standard 60 minutes.

Integrated design and further research

The closing panel discussion confirmed that parking garage fire safety remains an active subject of professional debate. Participants supported further research into vehicle fire behaviour and fire development in different garage configurations.

One conclusion was widely shared: achieving fire safety in a large underground parking garage requires a tailored approach. The surrounding environment is also likely to play a greater role in future assessments.

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