This report is part of a series of reports on technical rescue incidents across the United States. The investigation report provides detailed information about the magnitude and nature of the incident; how the response to the incident was carried out and managed; the impact of the incident on emergency responders and the emergency response systems in the community; and the lessons learned.

This report presents the methodology for and results from a series of room-scale fire tests to produce data on the yields of toxic products in both pre-flashover and post-flashover fires. The combustibles examined were: a sofa made of upholstered cushions on a steel frame, particleboard bookcases with a laminated finish, polyvinyl chloride sheet, and household electric cable. They were burned in a room with a long adjacent corridor. The yields of CO2, CO, HCl, HCN, and carbonaceous soot were determined. Other toxicants (e.g., NO2, formaldehyde and acrolein) were not found; concentrations below the detection limits were shown to be of limited toxicological importance relative to the detected toxicants. The toxicant yields from sofa cushion fires in a closed room were similar to those from pre-flashover fires of the same cushions in a room with the door open. The uncertainties in the post-flashover data are smaller due to the higher species concentrations and the more fully established upper layer from which the fire effluent was sampled. The uncertainty values are comparable to those estimated for the fractional effective dose calculations used to determine the time available for escape from a fire. The uncertainty in the yield data from the sofa, bookcase, and cable tests is sufficiently small to determine whether a bench-scale apparatus is producing results that are similar to or different from the real-scale results here. The use of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was shown to be a useful tool for obtaining concentration data of toxicants. However, its operation and interpretation is far from routine. The losses of CO, HCN, and HCl as they flowed down the corridor were found to be dependent on the combustible. The downstream to upstream concentration ratios varied from unity for some fuels to a factor of five smaller for others. The CO yield from two of the combustibles was significantly lower than the expected value of 0.2, which should be used in hazard and risk analyses. The accuracy of the results is verified, and a hypothesis is offered for the lower CO yield values.

This report continues a series of annual studies by the USFA of on-duty firefighter fatalities in the United States. The USFA is the single public agency source of information for all on-duty firefighter fatalities in the United States each year. The unique and specific objective of this study is to identify all on-duty firefighter fatalities that occurred in the United States and its protectorates in 2005, and to present in summary form the circumstances surrounding each occurrence. The study is intended to help identify approaches that could reduce the number of firefighter deaths in future years. In addition to the 2005 overall findings, this study includes information on firefighter accountability programs.

This study analyzed the use of sprinklered and non-sprinklered fire protection options in existing small Board and Care homes.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the circumstances surrounding fire fighter fatalities in the United States in 1987 in an attempt to identify potential means for reducing the number of deaths that occur each year. In addition to the 1987 findings, this study will also include special analyses of particular recurring scenarios, using NFPA's data base of fire fighter fatalities from 1978 through 1987.

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.

An innovative technology was evaluated to generate fire and health safe soft furnishings. Nanoparticle-based thin coatings on a polyurethane foam and nonwoven barrier fabric were applied using Layerby- layer (Lbl) assembly. This is the first report of using Lbl on a complex three dimensional substrate, to improve the fire resistance of foam and barrier fabrics, and with sodium montmorillonite clay (MMT), carbon nanofibers (CNF) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT). The Lbl process was tailored for each nanoparticle in order to fabricate durable coatings that completely covered the entire substrate surface. The CNF and MWCNT coatings on foam were thinner and contained fewer nanoparticles, but resulted in the greatest reduction in peak heat release rate (flammability). The reduction in foam flammability due to the nanoparticle \Lbl coatings is as high as 1138% greater than 17 other commercial fire retardants commonly used in foam. This technology has strong commercial viability for foam due to easy and flexibility of the Lbl process and the significant reduction in foam flammability caused by the coatings. However, Lbl does not work for nonwoven barrier fabrics as the structure was unable to remain intact during the fabrication process. In order to enable other agencies to access the potential health risk of using this nanoparticle-based technology for reducing the flammability of soft consumer products, this project developed the methodology to promote, collect, and quantify nanoparticles released from these substrates. In general, the release of nanoparticles was an order of magnitude higher from simulated chewing than simulated wear and tear, highest from the barrier fabric, and lowest for MMT. The release was between 0.50 mass fraction % to 0.0003 mass fraction % of the total nanoparticle loading on the substrate.

This body of work provides detailed information on the fire on Tuesday, January 31, 1995 which destroyed Milliken & Company's Live Oak/Milstar Complex and Carpet Service Center in LaGrange, Georgia. This report will assist 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 LP-Gas Tank Explosion which killed two volunteer firefighters. This report will assist 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 includes California's Fire and Rescue Mutual Aid System and its evolution, how mutual aid is used in major fire and non-fire incidents, and discusses some reasons for its success over the years. The purpose of the report is to share lessons learned to help other States advance their systems and give the fire service in general some useful ideas on providing mutual aid.

In the Spring of 2004, the U S Fire Administration (USFA) partnered with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) in a cooperative agreement project entitled Mitigating the Rural Fire Problem. The purpose of the project was to examine what can be done to reduce the high death rate from fires in rural U S communities

The use of halon 1301 for fire fighting is being phased out due to its deleterious effects on stratospheric ozone. This report summarizes the findings of a three year study designed to characterize and identify super-effective thermal fire-fighting agents as possible replacements for these widely used compounds. Four distinct aspects related to the effectiveness of potential thermal agents have been considered. First, existing thermodynamic databases maintained by NIST have been searched in order to identify chemical compounds which are predicted to extract large amounts of heat from a combustion zone. Second, two liquids that were identified as being particularly interesting during the database search were tested experimentally for their extinguishing effectiveness. Third, detailed chemical-kinetic modeling and experimental studies of extinguishing volume fractions in simple flame systems were employed to improve the understanding of the effects of thermal agents on diffusion flames. Fourth, empirical heat transfer correlations for spray cooling of a surface were used to estimate the efficiencies of surface cooling by thermal agents. The database searches used two primary sources -- the Design Institute for Physical Properties database containing 1458 compounds from 83 family types and a smaller database, REFPROP, containing 43 compounds which is tailored to refrigerant applications. Additional substances were included that are not well represented in these databases. Compounds having high 1) heats of vaporization, 2) liquid-phase heat capacities, and 3) total heat absorption due to phase changes (if applicable), heating of a liquid (if applicable), and the heating of the gas phase to combustion temperatures were identified. The results are reported in tables of compounds ordered in terms of their ability to extract heat. The following recommendations are made based on the findings of the study: 1. The effectiveness of HFE7100 as a fire-extinguishing agent should be tested on full-scale simulations of aircraft fires. 2. Additional studies of the effectiveness of fire extinguishing agents released as liquids should be performed with a focus on confirming and understanding their enhanced performance relative to that expected based on simple heat extraction. 3. Experiments should be designed and performed with a goal of better understanding the interactions of liquid agent droplets with heated and reacting surfaces. Such an understanding is needed to better predict the effectiveness of liquid agents and could lead to improved approaches for delivering such agents to a fire.

This report continues a series of annual studies by the USFA of on-duty firefighter fatalities in the United States. The USFA is the single public agency source of information for all on-duty firefighter fatalities in the United States each year. The unique and specific objective of this study is to identify all on-duty firefighter fatalities that occurred in the United States and its protectorates in 2003, and to present in summary form the circumstances surrounding each occurrence. The study is intended to help identify approaches that could reduce the number of firefighter deaths in future years. In addition to the 2003 overall findings, this study includes two special topics related to alcohol use and fire service risk management.

This report continues a series of annual studies by the USFA of onduty firefighter fatalities in the United States. The USFA is the single public agency source of information for all onduty firefighter fatalities in the United States each year. The unique and specific objective of this study is to identify all onduty firefighter fatalities that occurred in the United States and its protectorates in 1999, and to present in summary form the circumstances surrounding each occurrence. The study is intended to help identify approaches that could reduce the number of firefighter deaths in future years. In addition to the 1999 overall findings, this study includes special analyses on vehicle collisions and personal protective clothing and equipment use.

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 project was carried out by the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE) and was supported by the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS's) Science and Technology Directorate and the United States Fire Administration (USFA). SFPE is an engineering association for advancing the science and practice of fire protection engineering. Water supply is an important subject to the fire service, fire protection engineers, and city managers. These manuals (volumes I & II) are intended to provide a reference for concepts and terminology to facilitate communication and understanding among these organizations.

This handbook's primary objective is to describe statistical techniques for analyzing data typically collected in fire departments. Motivation for the handbook comes from the belief that fire departments collect an immense amount of data, but do very little with it. A compelling reason for collecting data is a legal requirement for documenting incidents; however, incident reports provide a more beneficial service to fire departments by providing insight into the nature of fires and injuries.

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.

The purpose of this U.S. Fire Administration special report is to document the problem of older children who set fires resulting in serious or potentially serious consequences. The report also examines the factors that commonly are associated with intentional firesetting by teenagers and discusses a number of community programs that intervene to control arson.

The purpose of this document is to provide the foundation for the development of a guidance document on emergency communication message content and dissemination strategies. The document answers three major questions regarding emergency communication systems: 1) What technology exists or is proposed for use in emergency notification? 2) What approaches are currently being used to disseminate messages? 3) How does the public respond to different types of information and information sources? The document begins with a discussion of the technology that exists or is proposed for use in emergency notification, along with the positive and negative aspects of each system. The ways in which social media tools can be used to provide warnings in emergencies are included. Second, the document discusses the various types of emergencies for which warnings are needed, the range of protective actions that are taken by building occupants in emergencies, and the nature of the information required based upon the emergency type. The emergency communication systems installed in two different college campuses are described as examples of approaches used to disseminate warnings during emergencies. Finally, a comprehensive literature review is presented on how the public responds to various types of information and information sources both in emergency and non-emergency conditions. A summary list of the relevant findings from each literature source is assembled in Appendix A to identify the most effective ways to create or disseminate messages to achieve optimal occupant response. Detailed annotations for each source are presented in Appendix B.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) initiated a program to determine the effects of emissions from problem drywall on residential electrical, gas distribution, and fire safety components. As part of this program, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) generated data to help determine whether there has been degradation in the activation performance of automatic residential fire sprinklers exposed to those emissions, as manifested by changes to sprinkler activation time. NIST tested three sets of sprinklers in the sensitivity test oven (plunge test apparatus), according to the oven heat test section of UL 199 / UL 1626. Set 1 (bulb type) residential sprinklers were provided by CPSC staff and described as having been installed in homes with problem drywall; Set 2 sprinklers (bulb and fusible types) were purchased new by NIST and tested as received; and Set 3 comprised new sprinklers, of the same models as Set 2, after they had been subjected to an accelerated aging protocol, the Battelle Class IV corrosivity environment. Sprinklers from all three sets were installed and tested in the UL 199 / UL 1626 plunge test apparatus.