ICF blocks are stacked together to form the exterior walls of the home, and then concrete is poured into the hollow core to form this highly insulated, concrete-and-steel, wildfire-resistant wall assembly: What Are Insulated Concrete Forms (ICFs)? Insulated Concrete Forms (ICFs) are known to build top quality safe rooms at a very reasonable price point. SAFE ROOMS WORK! This credit union vault saved the lives of 22 people who used it as a safe room for shelter during a 2013 EF-5 tornado in Moore, Oklahoma. In addition to having passed required testing for tornado impact and pressure, the door assembly should be easily locked and unlocked so that access to and from the safe room is both quick and easy. Products must have passed the FEMA ICC 500 testing and the FEMA requirements. Door assemblies designed for safe room doors to provide life-safety protection during a tornado for you and your family, they must be rigorously designed, constructed and tested. ![]() Steel doors commonly used cannot withstand the impact of what a tornado can propel and have resulted in injury and death during tornadoes. Just as the walls and roof of a safe room are designed and built to protect against extreme winds and wind-borne debris, so must the safe room door. Like any other room, safe rooms must be accessed through an opening or door. Finishing the Safe Room With a FEMA-rated Safe Room Door ICC 500 does have a minimum requirement for the slabs to be at 3.5-inch thickness with a 6 x 6 W1.4 x 1.4 welded wire reinforcement, or number 4 bars at the maximum spacing of 18″ on the center. To learn more about FEMA safe room requirements, click here. Near-absolute protection means that, based on our current knowledge of tornadoes and hurricanes, the occupants of a safe room built in accordance with FEMA guidance will have a very high probability of being protected from injury or death.”įE MA P-320 includes safe room designs and shows you and your builder/contractor or local design professional how to construct a safe room for your home or small business. Safe rooms can be located inside or outside of the home.Īccording to FEMA, “a safe room is a hardened structure specifically designed to meet the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) criteria and provide near-absolute protection in extreme weather events, including tornadoes and hurricanes. Your safe room is like a vault not only for all your prized and valued possessions, but also for you and your family. Not only will it provide you a safe place to store your valuables, it will protect your family during a robbery or home invasion. Safe rooms provide an ultra-safe location inside your home or workplace. This equals about 200 incidents per hour and up to 4,800 per day. That’s a total of 2.5 million burglaries a year, 66% of those being home break-ins. Weather is not the only contributor to property damages and loss in the Unites States - a burglary takes place about every 18 seconds. ![]() To learn more about the incidence of disasters, statistics and disaster types, check out our article here. The United States averages approximately 1,000 tornado events each year, and causes an estimate of 1,500 injuries a year and 80 deaths per year, directly from tornado activity. The United States has approximately 1,000 to 2,000 per year. Canada ranks second in the world for the occurrence of tornadoes, averaging 80 to 100 tornadoes yearly. They are frequent from New Brunswick to the Rocky Mountains and most common in Southern Ontario, followed by Southern Manitoba. Tornadoes occur in all parts of Canada except those with an arctic climate. ![]() Not included within Tornado Alley but known for strong tornado activity are the Southeastern states of Mississippi, Georgia and Florida. Tornado Alley includes the Midwest states of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Nebraska, as well as the southern state of Texas. Tornadoes occur most often in the United States, mostly in an area which is called Tornado Alley. These disasters happen more than you realize and are caused by many different reasons. A disaster can be any of the following, including floods, wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding and windstorms, to name a few. In addition to natural disasters, a safe room also provides a safe shelter in the event of fire, a home invasion or break-in, or a terrorist attack.Ī natural disaster is a major adverse event resulting from natural processes of the earth. ![]() Building a tornado safe room will protect your family, your belongings and your property, as well as give you peace of mind if a disaster does occur in your area.
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