Protection against fire resulting from the electrical installation and the use of the electrical installation has been necessary ever since electricity was first introduced into buildings. Chapter 42 contains the requirements for the protection of persons, livestock and property against fire caused by electrical equipment, against burns and overheating and for including precautions where particular risks of fire exist.
It is recognised that RCDs can reduce the likelihood of fires associated with earth faults. However, whilst RCDs can detect earth faults they aren’t able to reduce the risk of electrical fire due to series or parallel arcing between live conductors because there is no leakage current to earth. Also, it is understood that the impedance of a series arc fault reduces the load current, which will keep the current below the tripping threshold of the circuit-breaker and the circuit-breaker may therefore not operate to disconnect the circuit.