Fire Research You Can Use
The FIRE.GOV website has been expanded to provide training materials, videos, fire reconstructions, and research
reports that may be of interest to the fire service. The FIRE.GOV
electronic newsletter will continue to be an important part of the
website.
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the available resources related to fire fighting. Please feel
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Research Spotlight
NIST
Hosts Fire Dynamics Seminar
On September 3rd NIST Researchers
held a fire dynamics conference for 400 fire chiefs and trainers
from all over the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan area. Dr.
Turner welcomed all of the attendees with highlights of NIST's
partnership with the fire service. Dan Madrzykowski and Steve Kerber used videos of
their studies to show firefighters how convection,
conduction and ventilation including wind, affect a fire.
Other topics of discussion included how building geometry,
materials, furnishings and firefighting tactics can
influence fire growth and spread leading to untenable
conditions for firefighters. The attendees left with a copy of the presentation
and all of the videos to share with the members of their
departments to ultimately increase firefighter safety.
Report
on Positive Pressure Ventilation in Schools is Completed
The report from the experiments completed in
a retired high-school in Toledo, OH is now available.
The report and all of the experimental video can be viewed
and downloaded
here. The
report includes many tactical considerations covering both
positive pressure and natural ventilation operations.
New
Report and Videos Available on Impact of a Residential
Sprinklers on the Heat Release Rate of a Christmas Tree Fire
In February 2008, NIST, partnering with
FDNY and Polytechnic University conducted experiments in order to improve the safety of fire fighters and building
occupants by enabling a better understanding of wind driven
firefighting tactics, including structural ventilation and
suppression. Further Although the number of Christmas
tree fires is low, these fires carry a higher level of
hazard than other fires that occur in a residential structure.
This study, supported by the U. S. Fire Administration, has the
following three objectives: 1) characterize the heat release rate
of dry Fraser fir trees 2) demonstrate the ignition resistance of
a tree with a high moisture content and 3) examine the impact of a
residential sprinkler on the heat release rate of a dry tree that is on fire in a compartment.
See the
Sprinkler
section for the report and videos.
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