The company was established in May 2002 as a direct result of restructuring within the CSIR. FIRELAB was established to address the many facets of fire safety and related issues for the Southern African and potential overseas markets. The purpose of the company is not only to serve the industry with information, fire testing and technical solutions, but also their specialized training needs and requirements through workshops and presentations. FIRELAB operates from Building 28, on the CSIR Campus in Pretoria.
The facilities include a 5-storey fire test building, large-scale vertical and horizontal furnaces, a 20 m by 5 m high test facility for the evaluation of under-roof and side cladding insulation products and many other medium and small test apparatuses. FIRELAB is currently in the process of constructing a new large-scale facility for the testing and evaluation of Building Façade Systems (ETICS) to mitigate high-rise building fires.
The laboratory is the best-equipped fire test facility in South Africa and Africa with regard to large-scale facilities. To enable FIRELAB to address all industry needs and requirements, we have associated ourselves with specialists in the field of fire technology and related laboratories for product analysis in South Africa and abroad. FIRELAB is the only fire testing facility in South Africa that is set up to conduct the full range of testing required for the evaluation of fire safety in the Mining Industry.