IFC Fire Escape & Egress Check

Pathfinder-driven fire-egress audit. Computes the shortest path from every space to a tagged fire exit and flags travel-distance, dead-end, common-path, and two-exit-rule violations against IBC / NFPA 101 / UK Approved Doc B presets. Reports unreachable spaces and overlays routes on the model.

Check an IFC model's escape routes online: travel distances, dead-end corridors, common-path lengths, and whether spaces that need two exits actually have two. Upload the model, tag the fire exits, and get every failure back anchored to the space it affects.

Egress compliance is the most consequential thing checked by hand in this industry. A reviewer traces routes on a plan, scales the distances, and applies rules that depend on sprinkler protection and occupant load — building by building, revision by revision. The geometry is in the model and the rules are arithmetic. What was missing is a tool that walks the routes; this does, over a real navigation graph rather than straight-line distances.

When to reach for it: Before tender or change-control sign-off to validate IBC 1017 / 1020 / 1006 travel-distance, dead-end and common-path limits. Adds a real pathfinder layer on top of the metadata-only IBC 1010 clear-width check.

What you get: A unified findings sidecar surfaced in the Validate tab (Travel / Dead-end / Common-path chips), BCF export grouped by check section, HTML report, and route polylines you can overlay on the viewer to see the violating path.

Example: Run before tender to validate travel distances and dead-end corridors against IBC 1017 / 1020.

Six checks, and what each one catches

Unreachable spaces — CRITICAL, the highest severity anywhere in the catalogue. A space with no route to a fire exit is a life-safety failure, not a coordination issue.
Travel distance — the path length from each space to its nearest exit, against the applicable threshold. Sprinklered and unsprinklered limits differ, and the check reads which applies PER SPACE from the space's fire-safety property set, or you can override it to assume the building is fully sprinklered.
Dead-end corridor — the longest portion of a space's escape path that doesn't branch: the stretch where, if the route ahead is blocked, there is nowhere else to go. Measured by finding where other spaces' paths join or split from it, which is what makes it a real dead-end measurement rather than a guess at corridor shape.
Common-path of egress travel — how far you must go from a space before at least TWO distinct exits become reachable. Distinct from dead-end and distinct from travel distance, and a separate limit in most codes.
Two-exit rule — for spaces above the occupant-load threshold, the two shortest paths must end at two DIFFERENT exits. Two routes that converge on the same door are one exit, and that is exactly the failure this catches.
No fire exits at all — a single high-severity finding when nothing is tagged, so an un-set-up run can never be mistaken for a passing one.

Distances along routes, not across plans

Every distance here is path length through the navigable graph. That matters because egress limits are written about travel distance, and straight-line measurement understates it systematically — sometimes by a factor of two through a building with any circulation complexity. A tool measuring straight lines would clear routes that fail, which is the worst possible error for this check to make.

The two-exit test works the same way: it takes the two shortest actual paths and asks whether they terminate at different exits. Two corridors that look independent on a plan and merge before the door are one route with extra steps.

What it needs to be right

Fire exits have to be tagged — auto-detection plus your own picks — and spaces have to exist, since IfcSpace is what the routes run between. A model with no spaces cannot be egress-checked at all; the Floor Area Takeoff will tell you quickly whether yours has them.

Sprinkler status is read from each space's fire-safety property set where present. If the model doesn't carry it, set the fully-sprinklered override deliberately rather than leaving the default to decide a threshold that changes every result — and the Data Completeness Check plus the IDS Checker are how you find out whether the data is there in the first place.

This is a design-stage aid, not a certification. It applies the numbers you give it to the geometry in the model; it does not know your jurisdiction, your fire strategy, or the approvals your project has. Use it to find the problems early and cheaply, and have the fire engineer sign the compliance. Findings export as HTML, CSV or BCF for exactly that hand-off, and the Accessibility Check shares the same route engine for the other half of life safety.

How to check fire egress in an IFC model

Upload your IFC file
Pick a code preset — IBC 2021 Group B / A / R-2, NFPA 101, or UK Approved Doc B
Override individual thresholds (travel distance sprinklered & unsprinklered, dead-end, common-path, two-exit occupant-load threshold)
Tick 'Assume fully sprinklered' if the building is sprinklered but Pset_SpaceFireSafetyRequirements data is missing
Tag fire-exit doors / fire-escape stairs / sprinklered spaces if auto-detect from PredefinedType + Pset_DoorCommon.FireExit needs correcting
Click Run — the same engine pathfinds from every space to the nearest fire exit (stairs allowed)
Review findings; routes overlay on the viewer with a red accent
Export to BCF or push to a project Issues room

Under the hood

BIMCamel parses IFC files in the browser using the open-source web-ifc engine and renders models with @thatopen/components + three.js. Heavy operations (clean / optimise / validate / convert) run on disposable server-side workers using the same web-ifc stack plus our own .NET pipeline; results stream back to your browser as soon as they're ready. Uploads sit on our servers only as long as your tier's retention window allows and are never used to train AI.

Frequently asked questions

Can I check egress travel distances from an IFC model?

Yes. Tag the fire exits and the check pathfinds from every space, measuring actual route length rather than straight-line distance, against the sprinklered or unsprinklered threshold that applies to that space.

How does it measure a dead-end corridor?

By finding the longest portion of a space's escape path that doesn't branch — the stretch where, if the route ahead is blocked, there's nowhere else to go. It detects the branch points from where other spaces' paths join or split from it, so it's a real measurement rather than an assumption about corridor shape.

What's the difference between dead-end and common-path?

A dead-end is the non-branching stretch of a single route. Common-path of egress travel is how far you must go from a space before at least two DISTINCT exits become reachable. Most codes limit them separately, so both are reported separately.

Does it check the two-exit rule properly?

Yes — for spaces above the occupant-load threshold it takes the two shortest actual paths and requires them to end at two DIFFERENT exits. Two corridors that look independent on a plan but merge before the door are one exit, which is exactly the failure this catches.

Where does sprinkler status come from?

Each space's fire-safety property set, where the model records it — sprinklered and unsprinklered travel limits differ. If your model doesn't carry it, set the fully-sprinklered override deliberately rather than letting a default decide a threshold that changes every result.

Is this a compliance certification?

No. It applies the numbers you give it to the geometry in the model, and it doesn't know your jurisdiction, your fire strategy or your project's approvals. Use it to find problems early and cheaply; the fire engineer signs the compliance. Export the findings as HTML, CSV or BCF for that hand-off.

What's the maximum IFC file size?

Up to 25 MB as a guest, 100 MB with a free account, 500 MB on Pro, and 1 GB on Team. The caps are on upload size only — every tool itself is available on every tier.

What happens to my file after processing?

Your file is uploaded over HTTPS and processed on our servers. Guest uploads are stream-only — the working files are deleted as soon as your download finishes. Free accounts keep results for 7 days; Pro keeps them 90 days and Team 180 days. Files are never shared with third parties or used to train AI.

Is IFC Fire Egress Check free?

Yes. IFC Fire Egress Check is free to use — guests get 3 runs a day with 25 MB uploads, and a free account raises that to 10 runs a day with 100 MB uploads. No trial clock, no watermarks.