Study of Technology for Detecting Pre-Ignition Conditions of Cooking-Related Fires Associated With Electric and Gas Ranges and Cooktops.
Study of Technology for Detecting Pre-Ignition
Conditions of Cooking-Related Fires Associated With
Electric and Gas Ranges and Cooktops.
(169 K)
Johnsson, E. L.
NISTIR 5904; October 1996.
National Institute of Standards and Technology. Annual
Conference on Fire Research: Book of Abstracts.
October 28-31, 1996, Gaithersburg, MD, 111-112 pp, 1996.
Available from:
National Technical Information Service
Order number: PB97-153514
Keywords:
fire research; fire science; stoves; preignition;
appliances
Abstract:
In 1994, 3,425 deaths, 19,475 injuries, and $4.2 billion
in property damage were caused by 438,000 home fires in
the United States. The National Fire Protection
Association estimated that between 1988 and 1992,
range/oven appliance fires averaged about 20% of all
home fires and were responsible for approximately 20% of
the injuries, 5% of the deaths, and 5% of the property
loss associated with home fires. A majority of these
range/oven fires involved food. The overall objective
of the Consumer Product Safety Commission's Range
Cooking Fire Project is to reduce the number of
cooling-related fires in homes. The objective of this
testing effort was to determine the possibility of
detecting hazardous range-cooked food situations to
allow alarm or shutoff of the range before ignition
occurs. Feasibility of such a detection system also
requires the availability of effective technology and
its ability to differentiate normal and hazardous
situations and thus not alarm falsely.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899