fig leaves

The newsletter of the Fire Information Group UK (FIG UK)

www.figuk.org.uk

No. 65
November 2022

Wishing Everyone a very Happy Festive Season 2022

Edited by Sheila Pantry, OBE
Sheila Pantry Associates Ltd
www.sheilapantry.com
www.oshworld.com
www.oshupdate.com
sp@sheilapantry.com

This latest edition of fig leaves contains:

News from around the World
New Publications
Date of Next Meeting

FIG UK News

Members agreed that the remaining FIG UK funds should be donated to some worthy cause – on 8 November 2022 the Fire Aid & International Development organisation. Administrator Andy Young very gratefully accepted from FIG UK £748.82. Fire Aid will be sending a receipt and also inform FIG UK how they will be using this gift.

News from around the World

New publications

New articles

Experiments in aerial firefighting with and without additives and its application to suppress wildfires near electrical transmission lines
Zhou, Tejun; Lu, Jiazheng; He, Lifu; Wu, Chuanping; Luo, Jing
Journal of Fire Sciences. 2022; 40 (5): 313-346
A comparison scheme is proposed to extinguish non-uniform fire scenes and continuously uniform fire scenes using a helicopter’s bucket fire-extinguishing device to spray extinguishing agent. Pure water, and Class AB, gel, and Class A extinguishing agents were added to the bucket fire-extinguishing device to spray 4-layer, 6-layer, and 12-layer wood crib fires. It was discovered that the depth (the distance from the top of the wood crib) of effective cooling and prevention of temperature recovery by extinguishing agents was 0.36 m and that the cooling performance of the extinguishing agents in sequence from high to low was Class A extinguishing agent > gel extinguishing agent > Class AB extinguishing agent > pure water. Their capacity to prevent temperature recovery in the wood crib fires in sequence from high to low was gel extinguishing agent > Class A extinguishing agent > Class AB extinguishing agent > pure water. A device has been developed that can add extinguishing agent to the helicopter bucket efficiently, and its application on-site during the 2020–2021 Spring Festival and other events showed that it can quickly extinguish small-area wildfires near electrical transmission lines to reduce line trips due to wildfire.
https://doi.org/10.1177/07349041221098171

Electrical applications in Internet of things and e-vehicles: Passive fire safety needs and solutions
Troitzsch, Juergen H.
Journal of Fire Sciences. 2022; 40 (5): 347-363
The exponential growth of electrical devices in Internet of things and e-vehicles will lead to new fire safety challenges. As electric fires rank second among all fires and electrical equipment recalls show safety gaps, fire safety requirements must be better enforced and improved. The analysis of the current qualitative pass/fail requirements for electrotechnical products shows that they provide a basic level of fire safety. Fire testing of car and bus interiors, mandatory worldwide, is too low level. Alternative tests, such as the microscale combustion calorimeter, are discussed. Buses have to comply with additional fire tests. E-vehicles must meet a fire exposure test for electric powertrain and specifications to prevent thermal runaway of batteries. Charging stations must comply with fire and overheating requirements for enclosures, plugs, and sockets. Passive fire safety needs are primarily met by using flame retardants, and for preventing thermal runaway of batteries, by intumescent coatings, interlayers, and ceramifying products.
https://doi.org/10.1177/07349041221108643

Experimental study on combustion characteristics of fire in data room
Gui, Xiaohong; Xue, Haiteng; Jia, Yan; Zhang, Can; Xing, Shiqing
Journal of Fire Sciences. 2022; 40 (5): 364-384
Through the combustion experiments on the cables and servers in a data room, the combustion characteristic parameters of the materials were obtained, and the materials were analyzed and evaluated from the aspects of heat release rate, gas concentration, flue gas temperature, and so on. The results show that network cable and electric cable can be ignited during the cable combustion test. In the overall fire combustion experiment of single server and the server group with three cabinets, the fire process is divided into three stages: initial growth stage, stable combustion stage, and combustion attenuation stage. The heat release rate, flue gas temperature, and CO2 concentration of the overall experiment have three peaks, respectively, 58, 98, and 134 kW; 100 °C, 152 °C, and 232 °C; 1314, 2514, and 2988 ppm. The research results can provide some reference for design of fire protection system in data rooms.
https://doi.org/10.1177/07349041221119715

Effects of accelerated and natural weathering on fire-retarded industrial wood composite Fontaine, Gaëlle; Marchetti, Véronique; Bourbigot, Serge
Journal of Fire Sciences. 2022; 40 (5), 385-402, 20 pages
This study shows the impact of aging on the fire behaviour of a fire-retarded polyvinyl chloride wood composite cladding intended for outdoor use. Two sets of composite wood cladding elements were examined: one aged naturally under exposed outdoors conditions for 1 year and the second, which underwent artificial accelerated aging. Optical microscopy, electron probe micro-analysis, and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance of 27Al were used to investigate changes in the material properties after aging, distribution of chemical compounds, and aluminum environment. This study reveals the impact of different aging procedures on the physicochemical modifications of the composite material. In addition, after aging, the fire behavior of the two sets of composites as a function of fire exposure time was evaluated by cone calorimetry. Then, the natural aged composite was evaluated on a larger scale with the single burning item. The results surprisingly demonstrate that whatever the aging, the fire behaviour of these wood composite was not affected.
https://doi.org/10.1177/07349041221102059

Date of Next FIG UK Meeting (online)

Wednesday, 8 March 2023, 11 am - 1 pm – Agenda will be sent out about 10 days before the event.

News from FIG UK Members

Send any news at any time to Sheila Pantry at sp@sheilapantry.com | 85 The Meadows, Todwick, Sheffield S26 1JG | Tel 01909 771024 | www.sheilapantry.com

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