Fire risks, a reality with high potential consequences

Fire safety starts with cables

Smoke and hazardous emissions are the main cause of casualties during an indoor fire, as they significantly reduce the chance to escape, extend the damage to goods far behind the burnt area, and hinder the rescue work of fire fighters. It is therefore vital to reduce the exposure time to these gases by facilitating safe evacuation with the best possible visibility.

Cables are the electrical backbone of a building, present everywhere and in large quantities. They link rooms and floors, go through the walls without interruption, and their number keeps increasing with new energy usages. Cables do not represent a danger as such, but due to their omnipresence, they can act as fuel for fire and be a vector of flames propagation.

Cables lie at the heart of a building safety system, playing a crucial role in saving people’s life by maintaining continuous protection during a fire. This major contribution comes in an active way, by warranting the supply of energy to critical elements and ensuring the transmission of key information, as well as in a passive way by improving the time to escape from the fire.

At Nexans, our priority is to provide our customers and partners with everything they need to design and build safe and sustainable electrification, at every step of their project lifecycle. That’s why we constantly innovate to ensure our cables are at the edge in terms of safety, reliability, electrical performance, and standards compliance.

Our offer is based on three pillars:

Maximise your safety by choosing the right cables within Nexans Fire Safety range

In the event of a fire, two criteria are key for electrical cables to secure a quick and safe evacuation.

• The Reaction to Fire, defined by the fire spread, the smoke opacity, the loss of flaming droplets, and the acidity of emissions. All those elements have a major impact on people’s ability to evacuate on time.
   
• The Resistance to Fire, defined by the ability of the cable to maintain the functionality (power and communication) of the circuit under a fire, for a certain duration (from 15 to 120 minutes), and with no or minor decay of performance. This performance, defined by national and international standards, ensures the integrity of the safety system’s critical functions.

Nexans Fire Safety range is our commitment to your safe and sustainable electrification. It is a full range of cable at the edge of innovation, that will help you to anticipate risks, secure your assets, and protect life.

• Low Fire-Hazard cables constitute the best line of defense against fire in all types of buildings and infrastructures. They significantly delay the propagation of flames, thus gaining precious time for evacuation and fire-fighting. Thanks to their advanced reaction-to-fire properties, they reduce opaque smokes and acid gases to a minimum, securing a safe escape with the best possible visibility.
   
• Fire-Resistant cables are essential components of a building safety system. During the evacuation process, they ensure that critical functions (warning systems, smoke detector, smoke extractor, emergency exits, and fire lighting equipment) remain functional, even under a long exposer to flames.

Innovation is in our DNA: we broadened our Fire-Resistant range with innovative cables based on the patented INFIT™ insulation technology. Its fire performances are similar to usual market technologies (silicone rubber or mica tape), but brings exceptional mechanical performance, making the installation easier and creating value with important time-saving and thus cost-saving advantages for your projects.

Go beyond cables: Nexans Fire Safety products are compatible with our full range of solutions & services

Nexans supports its partners and customers against fire risks

In fire safety, we all have a role. Especially those responsible for specifying and deploying cables. That’s where we come in. At Nexans, we understand our Partners & Customers' unique needs and expectations, whether they’re regulators, architects, contractors, wholesalers and electricians.

Our goal as a responsible provider? To deliver products and solutions that satisfy all our customers’ safety requirements. But it doesn’t stop there. We support our offering with comprehensive information and advice to help stakeholders make informed decisions about their fire safety.

We support all your projects

The building of the future is electrical – meaning more cables, more connectors, more systems and subsystems – but also smarter, safer, with a low carbon footprint.

With Nexans Fire Safety, we bring you a full range of cable that will ensure a safer and more sustainable energy, at all stages of the electrification chain, and no matter the type of building.

From residential to commercial and industrial buildings, but also to all high safety buildings (hospitals, schools, hotel), infrastructures (tunneling, rail, airports terminals), new energy (Solar PV, e-mobility), and data centers, you can rely on Nexans to support you against fire risks.