Estimating Data for the Incapacitation of People by Fire Smoke.
Estimating Data for the Incapacitation of People by Fire
Smoke.
(63 K)
Gann, R. G.
Fire Technology, Vol. 40, No. 2, 201-207, April 2004.
Keywords:
smoke; incapacitation; toxicity; LC50; carbon monoxide;
rats; animals; exposure
Abstract:
Fire hazard and risk analyses establish the basis for
providing conditions of safety for people, including
those that are more sensitive to fire smoke than others.
For
this purpose, this paper develops a method for
estimating, from information on lethal and
incapacitating exposures for the median rat, smoke toxic
potency values for incapacitation of smoke-sensitive
people. For those engineering applications where the mix
of combustibles is unknown, generic values are derived
of the concentration of smoke that would incapacitate
smoke-sensitive people in 5 min: 6 g/mu3 for a
well-ventilated fire and 3 g/mu3 for a post-flashover
fire. These values are estimated with significant
assumptions in their derivation, resulting in an
estimated uncertainty of about a factor of two. Further,
there is a wide range of smoke toxic potency values
reported for various combustibles, and some of these
will lead to values significantly higher or lower than
these generic figures.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899