Fire Toxicity

Toxic fire effluents are responsible for the majority of fire deaths, and an increasing large majority of fire injuries, driven by the widespread and increasing use of synthetic polymers. Fire safety has focused on preventing ignition and reducing flame spread through reducing the rate of heat release, while neglecting the important issue of fire toxicity. This is the first reference work on fire toxicity and the only scientific publication on the subject in the last 15 years. Assessment of toxic effects of fires is increasingly being recognised as a key factor in the assessment of fire hazards. This book raises important issues including the types of toxic effluents that different fires produce, their physiological effects, methods for generation and assessment of fire toxicity, current and proposed regulations and approaches to modelling the toxic impact of fires. The contributors to Fire toxicity represent an international team of the leading experts in each aspect of this challenging and important field. This book provides an important reference work for professionals in the fire community, including fire fighters, fire investigators, regulators, fire safety engineers, and formulators of fire-safe materials. It will also prove invaluable to researchers in academia and industry. Investigates the controversial subject of toxic effluents as the cause of the majority of fire deaths and injuries Describes the different types of toxic effluents and the specific fires that they produce, their physiological effects and methods for generation Provides an overview of national and international fire safety regulations including current and proposed regulations such as a standardized framework for prediction of fire gas toxicity

Combustion toxicology is a recent, applied science, the ultimate purpose of which is to reduce casualties from smoke inhalation. The present volume attempts an unbiased presentation of the state of the field. The authors have identified the misconceptions and unsupported conclusions in the literature, differentiating between fact and hypothesis and present the reader with an account of what is really known about the toxicity of smoke produced by materials. They also recommend an approach to evaluating the toxicity of combustion products.

This report does not seek to single out synthetic polymers as a special case. It aims to provide an overview of the whole subject of combustion toxicity and threat to life, whilst supplying specific information on the most frequently encountered polymeric materials, and combustion products such as dioxins which have received high levels of media attention. An additional indexed section containing several hundred abstracts from the Rapra Polymer Library database provides useful references for further reading.

"Contains papers presented at a symposium held in Phoenix, Ariz. on Dec. 5, 1988 and sponsored by ASTM Committee E-5 on Fire Standards."-- Foreword. - "ASTM publication code number (PCN) 04-010820-31."--t.p. verso. - "ASTM Special Technical Publication 1081. - Includes bibliographical references and indexes. - Electronic reproduction; W. Conshohocken, Pa; ASTM International; 2011; Mode of access: World Wide Web; System requirements: Web browser; Access may be restricted to users at subscribing institutions.

This book provides comprehensive and detailed information on combustion processes, dispersion of combustion products, estimation of rate of production of products and their effects on health.

This is an important subject now facing manufacturers, fire brigades and architects because many deaths in fires are attributable not to burns and other injuries but to the combined effects of smoke and toxic gases. Modern synthetic polymeric materials are often the cause. Several recent fires, such as the Stardust Disco fire (Dublin, Ireland, February 1981)(1), the Woolworth's Store fire (Manchester, UK, May 1979) (2), the MGM Hotel fire (USA, November 1980)(3) and the British Rail Sleeper fire (Taunton, UK, July 1978)'4' have highlighted the problems of toxic gases in fires, a major cause of death in each case. Despite the obvious importance of toxic gases, there is currently no widely acceptable way in which their direct effects can be effectively predicted and mitigated. It is, therefore, essential that fire safety practitioners can base their decisions on up-to-date information and so get combustion toxicity, especially the use of small-scale testing procedures, into a true perspective. That is the purpose of this digest.