Omaha, NE, United States, January 27, 2022 – Fox Blocks, an Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF) manufacturer, announces that their ICF wall assembly passed the ICC 500 required Missile Impact test used to determine compliance of storm shelter and safe room design and construction from flying debris in severe high-wind weather events.

This distinction allows owners, designers, structural engineers, and contractors who are currently designing and building these structures to reference Fox Blocks testing with an efficient rebar layout for superior constructability and schedule and cost savings. All the while enjoying peace of mind knowing that their builds will be FEMA P-361 and ICC 500-2020 compliant.

Safe rooms are defined as an interior room, a space within a building, or an entirely separate building, designed and constructed to provide near-absolute life-safety protection for its occupants from extreme wind events such as tornados and hurricanes. Safe rooms are designed and constructed to meet or exceed the criteria in ICC 500, for grants or funding per FEMA PC-361.

Storm shelters are structures that provide life-safety protection from extreme-wind events, as designed, and constructed to meet ICC 500 criteria, but do not have to meet the criteria of FEMA P-361 for funding. All safe rooms are storm shelters, but not all storm shelters are safe rooms.

“ICF large scale community storm shelters are becoming big business in tornado and hurricane alley,” says Randy Daniels, Fox Blocks Commercial Business Development Advisor for Western U.S. “Bidding nearly once a week, we see gym additions, multipurpose room additions, band hall/classroom additions to serve as ICC 500 Storm Shelters. Historically, engineers have utilized previous concrete wall impact testing that did not mesh with ICF typical rebar schedules. This caused cost and schedule slowdowns. Now, we can provide faster, lower-cost builds with the new Fox ICF-friendly compliance testing.”

To read the full press release: ICC 500 Missile Impact Test Results Press Release