The Society of Fire Protection Engineers Series

This Guide provides information on special topics that affect the fire safety performance of very tall buildings, their occupants and first responders during a fire.  This Guide addresses these topics as part of the overall building design process using performance-based fire protection engineering concepts as described in the SFPE Engineering Guide to Performance Based Fire Protection. This Guide is not intended to be a recommended practice or a document that is suitable for adoption as a code. The Guide pertains to &quote;super tall,&quote; &quote;very tall&quote; and &quote;tall&quote; buildings. Throughout this Guide, all such buildings are called &quote;very tall buildings.&quote;  These buildings are characterized by heights that impose fire protection challenges; they require special attention beyond the protection features typically provided by traditional fire protection methods. This Guide does not establish a definition of buildings that fall within the scope of this document.