Timber façade fire protection with water mist
How effective is water mist for timber façade fire protection? During the Practical Fire Protection conference in Haugesund, Prevent Systems demonstrated our façade nozzles on a burning Royal-treated timber façade. The demonstration was carried out under demanding conditions, with strong winds and gusts of up to 18 m/s.
Water mist for timber façade fire protection
The demonstration took place during the Practical Fire Protection conference, organised by Brannfaglig Fellesorganisasjon (BFO) in Haugesund in September 2026.
The test façade measured 2.5 metres high and 5 metres wide and was clad with Royal-treated timber. The façade was protected by two façade nozzles from Prevent Systems, installed 4.5 metres apart.
The fire load consisted of cut-up Euro pallets positioned above a tray of heptane used as the ignition source. Autronica Fire and Security supplied the flame detector used during the demonstration.
Conditions were challenging, with an ambient temperature of around 14 °C and wind gusts reaching 17–18 m/s.
Automatic detection of the façade fire
Approximately 10 seconds after ignition, the flame detector detected the fire and the alarm was activated.
In a normal automatic fire suppression system, this signal would have activated the water mist system. For the purpose of the demonstration, however, activation was deliberately delayed to allow the fire to develop and spread across the timber façade before the water mist system was manually activated.
This created a more demanding demonstration of the extinguishing performance and showed how the water mist system performs when the façade fire has already become well established.
Façade fire extinguished in around three seconds
The water mist system was manually activated after approximately 1 minute and 45 seconds.
Around three seconds later, the fire on the timber façade itself was extinguished.
The fire in the Euro pallets and heptane continued for slightly longer, but was also completely extinguished by the water mist system.
Watch the sequence in the video
• 00:03 – Heptane and Euro pallets are ignited
• 00:12 – Fire is detected and the alarm is activated
• 01:45 – Water mist system is manually activated
• 01:48 – Fire on the façade is extinguished
• 03:40 – The entire fire load is extinguished
Fire protection of combustible façades in challenging wind conditions
The demonstration shows how water mist can be used for fire protection of combustible timber façades, even under challenging wind conditions.
Despite wind gusts of up to 18 m/s, the system gained rapid control of the fire once the water mist was activated.
We would like to thank Brannfaglig Fellesorganisasjon (BFO) for an excellent event and for the opportunity to demonstrate the solution in practice, as well as Autronica Fire and Security for supplying the detection system used during the demonstration.
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