Sublethal Effects of Fire Smoke.
Sublethal Effects of Fire Smoke.
(46 K)
Gann, R. G.
Fire Technology, Vol. 40, No. 2, 95-99, April 2004.
Keywords:
smoke; toxicity; fire safety; fire risk; hazard
analysis; risk analysis; toxic hazards; fire research
Abstract:
Fire smoke toxicity has been a recurring theme for fire
safety professionals for over four decades. There
especially continue to be difficulty and controversy in
assessing and addressing the contribution of the
sublethal effects of smoke in hazard and risk analyses.
The Fire Protection Research Foundation (FPRF), the
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST),
and NFPA have begun a private/public fire research
initiative, the "International Study of the Sublethal
Effects of Fire Smoke on Survival and Health" (SEFS) to
provide scientific information on these effects for
public policy makers. The papers in this issue of Fire
Technology present results from the first phase of the
project: estimates of the magnitude and impact of
sublethal exposures to fire smoke on the U.S.
population, the best available lethal and incapacitating
toxic potency values for the smoke from commercial
products, the potential for various sizes of fires to
produce smoke yields that could result in sublethal
health effects, and state-of-the-art information on the
production of the condensed components of smoke from
fires and their evolutionary changes during transport
from the fire.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899