This body of work provides detailed information on the nature of the fire problem for policymakers who must decide on allocations of resources between fire and other pressing problems, and within the fire service to improve codes and code enforcement, training, public fire education, building technology, and other related areas.

This body of work provides detailed information on the nature of the fire problem for policymakers who must decide on allocations of resources between fire and other pressing problems, and within the fire service to improve codes and code enforcement, training, public fire education, building technology, and other related areas.

This report, America at Risk, builds on the meetings of America Burning, Recommissioned, and is based on statements, discussions and recommendations that were issued on May 3rd by the Commission as the Principal Findings and Recommendations.

This report contains a general discussion of the current and projected fire protection environment In the United States. The report includes information on Changes in fire experience, problems, issues and conditions since America Burning; current fire losses, major problem areas, programs and general conditions which directly, or indirectly, affect the protection of life and property from fire; and projected future conditions and situations at the local, state and national levels which might impact on fire protection.

This report provides a general overview of nozzle-aspirated class A and compressed air foam systems. It then discusses hands-on evaluations by several fire departments that are currently using class A foam systems in structural fire suppression or wildland/urban interface fire protection. Reported advantages and disadvantages in the use of class A foams and CAFS in structural firefighting, both from field experience and from recent fire protection literature, are included in this report.

The Arson Resource Directory is intended to provide an explanation and identification of organizations and individuals who are concerned with arson prevention and control. This Directory is designed to help you contact resources that will assist you in coordinating your efforts with others.

This body of work provides detailed information on the nature of the fire problem for policymakers who must decide on allocations of resources between fire and other pressing problems, and within the fire service to improve codes and code enforcement, training, public fire education, building technology, and other related areas.

This body of work provides detailed information on the nature of the fire problem for policymakers who must decide on allocations of resources between fire and other pressing problems, and within the fire service to improve codes and code enforcement, training, public fire education, building technology, and other related areas.

This body of work provides detailed information on the nature of the fire problem for policymakers who must decide on allocations of resources between fire and other pressing problems, and within the fire service to improve codes and code enforcement, training, public fire education, building technology, and other related areas.

This body of work provides detailed information on the nature of the fire problem for policymakers who must decide on allocations of resources between fire and other pressing problems, and within the fire service to improve codes and code enforcement, training, public fire education, building technology, and other related areas.

Monitoring and inventory to assess the effects of wildland fire is critical for 1) documenting fire effects, 2) assessing ecosystem damage and benefit, 3) evaluating the success or failure of a burn, and 4) appraising the potential for future treatments. However, monitoring fire effects is often difficult because data collection requires abundant funds, resources, and sampling experience. Often, the reason fire monitoring projects are not implemented is because fire management agencies do not have scientifically based, standardized protocols for inventorying pre- and post-fire conditions that satisfy their monitoring and management objectives. We have developed a comprehensive system, called the Fire Effects Monitoring and Inventory System (FIREMON), which is designed to satisfy fire management agencies' monitoring and inventory requirements for most ecosystems, fuel types, and geographic areas in the United States. FIREMON consists of standardized sampling methods and manuals, field forms, database, analysis program, and an image analysis guide so that fire managers can 1) design a fire effects monitoring project, 2) collect and store the sampled data, 3) statistically analyze and summarize the data, 4) link the data with satellite imagery, and 5) map the sampled data across the landscape using image processing. FIREMON allows flexible but comprehensive sampling of fire effects so data can be evaluated for significant impacts, shared across agencies, and used to update and refine fire management plans and prescriptions. The key to successful implementation of FIREMON requires the fire manager to succinctly state the objectives of the proposed fire monitoring project and accurately determine the available monitoring or inventory project resources. Using this information, the manager uses a series of FIREMON keys to decide the sampling strategy, methods, and intensity needed to accomplish the objectives with the resources on hand. Next, the necessary sampling equipment is gathered and dispersed to sampling crews. Field crews then collect FIREMON data using the detailed methods described in this FIREMON documentation. Collected data are then entered into a Microsoft(r) Access database. These data can be summarized, analyzed, and evaluated using the set of integrated programs developed specifically for FIREMON. FIREMON has a flexible structure that allows the modification of sampling methods and local code fields to allow the sampling of locally important fire effects evaluation criteri

This report details the response of the Mobile, Alabama Fire Department (MFD) to the derailment of a passenger train in a remote section of the Big Bayou Canot, nine miles north of Mobile

The articles and books listed here are a distillation of hundreds of possible entries that could have been included. They were selected by students, professors, on the ground fire practitioners, and federal researchers as excellent jumping off points for fire managers who want to become more knowledgeable about fire and the social sciences and more mindful about how human beings interconnect to make sense of the fire environment. vi Our philosophy of reading-why professionals in all walks of forest fire management can sharpen their leadership abilities through reading-parallels the "Professional Reading Program" described by the Wildland Fire Leadership Program at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho: "This reading] is not busy work; this is not drudgery. These readings will provoke reflection, discussion, and debate. The selected titles have been chosen for their intrinsic excitement as well as their content. Many of the books will be hard to put down. Let this be your roadmap to an enjoyable and rewarding reading program" (Wildland Fire Leadership Development Program 2005).

This book is designed solely for the use of the fire service and is modular in form. Many departments' information needs can be met by studying only the first few chapters, while others with a more statistical bent may want to dig deeper.

This report describes the results of calculations using the NIST Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) performed to provide insight on the thermal conditions that may have occurred during a wind-driven fire in a one-story ranch house on April 12, 2009 in Houston, Texas. The FDS simulations represented the building geometry, material thermal properties, and fire behavior based on information gathered from multiple sources. The simulation results are provided in this report. The FDS simulation that best represents the witnessed fire conditions indicate that fire spread throughout the attic and first floor developed a wind-driven flow with temperatures in excess of 260 C (500 F) between the den and front door. The critical event in this fire was the creation of a wind-driven flow path between a large span of failed windows on the upwind side of the structure, and the open front door on the downwind side of the structure. Floor-to-ceiling temperatures rapidly increased in the flow path, in which members were performing interior operations. In a simulation without wind, the flow path was not created after the large span of windows failed, and the thermal environment surrounding the location of interior operations improved.

The objective of this study was to compare the levels of hazard created by room fires in a dormitory building with and without automatic fire sprinklers in the room of fire origin. This report describes a series of experiments where fires were initiated in a dormitory sleeping room. The description of the experimental conditions includes: the geometry and construction of the building, the fuel load in the sleeping rooms, and the location of the instrumentation used to measure gas temperature, oxygen, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide concentrations and heat flux. Smoke alarm activation and sprinkler activation times are also reported. Five experiments were conducted. In two of the experiments, the door between the sleeping room (room of fire origin) and the corridor was closed. In the other three experiments the door from the sleeping room (room of fire origin) remained open to the corridor. In each case, door closed or door open, one of the experiments was sprinklered. The results from the experiments comparing the sprinklered and non-sprinklered sleeping room are presented. The results from these experiments demonstrate the potential life safety benefits of smoke alarms, compartmentation, and automatic fire sprinkler systems in college dormitories and similar occupancies. These experiments were conducted by NIST in cooperation with the University of Arkansas and the Fayetteville Fire Department.

A series of experiments are described in which helium was released at constant rates into a 1.5 m 1.5 m 0.75 m enclosure designed as a -scale model of a two car garage. The purpose was to provide reference data sets for testing and validating computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models and to experimentally characterize the effects of a number of variables on the mixing behavior within an enclosure and the exchange of helium with the surroundings. Helium was used as a surrogate for hydrogen, and the total volume released was scaled as the amount that could be released by a typical hydrogen-fueled automobile with a full fuel tank. Temporal profiles of helium were measured at seven vertical locations within the enclosure during and following one hour and four hour releases. Idealized vents in one wall sized to provide air exchange rates typical of actual garages were used. The effects of vent size, number, and location were investigated using three different vent combinations. The dependence on leak location was considered by releasing helium from three different points within the enclosure. A number of tabulated quantitative measures are used to characterize the experiments. The complete experimental measurement results for each condition are available on the internet as described in Appendix A (http: //www.nist.gov/el/fire_protection/buildings/upload/HeliumDispersionDataSets.zip.

As part of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) technical staff program to determine the effects of emissions from imported drywall on residential electrical, gas distribution, and fire safety components, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has generated data to aid assessment of whether there has been a loss of functionality of fire smoke detectors exposed to those emissions. NIST tested four sets of smoke detectors in the Fire Emulator/Detector Evaluator (FEDE) and the UL 217 test apparatus. Set 1 (ionization only) detectors were provided by CPSC staff and described as having been installed in homes with imported drywall; Set 2 (ionization only) detectors (same models as Set 1 but different batches) were described as coming from contemporaneous homes without the presence of imported drywall; Set 3 smoke detectors were purchased new by NIST and tested as received; and Set 4 comprised detectors from Set 3 that had been subjected to an accelerated aging protocol to simulate 10-year exposure to the effluent from imported drywall. Detectors from Set 1 and Set 2 activated within UL 217 sensitivity test parameters. Tests using the FEDE found differences in sensitivity between Sets 1 and 2 and between the ionization detectors in Sets 3 and 4 that were numerically small compared to the allowable performance range. An even smaller improvement in sensitivity was found for photoelectric smoke detectors between Sets 3 and 4. Two of the Set 1 smoke detectors sensed the presence of smoke, but would not send the signal to activate interconnected alarms. Two other Set 1 smoke detectors failed to operate under AC power, but operated properly under the required 9V battery back-up. It could not be determined whether the observations of Set 1 detector performance could be attributed to exposure to the emissions from imported drywall or to other factors.

For the last forty years, NIST has led the world in fire metrology through research conducted at the Large Fire Laboratory, which is being expanded to enable experiments on real-scale structures under combined structural and fire loads. The combined capabilities of large fire testing and structural fire testing will be comprised in the National Fire Research Laboratory (NFRL), which is expected to be completed in 2013. Measurements of temperature, displacement, and strain at hundreds of points on a structural system in the fire zone are needed to validate analytical tools for fire conditions. However, the ability to measure the performance of structures during realistic fire exposures is severely limited due to a significant gap in measurement science. At present, temperatures are measured with thermocouples and strains are measured with high temperature strain gages. Each of these sensors requires a separate line for data collection during the experiment. Further, high temperature strain gages are unreliable and often do not perform as expected during fire tests. Significant improvements to structural measurement in fire conditions are needed to advance the validation of analytical tools and performance based design methodologies. Candidate methods for temperature, displacement, and strain measurements that could meet these performance requirements were reviewed. A demonstration test that employed a natural gas burner in the Large Fire Facility evaluated the potential of digital image correlation and high temperature strain gages to measure thermally induced strains.The technology review and the outcome of the demonstration test indicate that digital image correlation and fiber optic methods have great promise for temperature, displacement, and strain measurement. A four-stage development plan is proposed to overcome these challenges.