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The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH/PRL) conducted a series of large-scale experiments to evaluate the effectiveness of optical flame detectors, photoelectric smoke detectors, and combined ionization and photoelectric smoke detectors for rapidly detecting mining equipment cab fires. The detector alarm times were then used to trigger the discharge of a fire inerting system inside the cab to suppress cab material fires. This paper discusses the types of fire detectors tested, the experiments that were conducted, and the results that were obtained. Conclusions are that rapid detection of equipment cab fires can be achieved to trigger the discharge of a fire inerting system inside the cab to protect the operator in the cab.

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