Emissions from Fires Part II: Simulated Room Fires

Abstract

Detailed quantitative characterization of the combustion gases from a series of room fires is reported in this article. Three simulated room fires were conducted with a test room containing a typical domestic fuel load of furniture including a TV-set. Two types of TV-sets were studied in the experiments, i.e. those containing fire retarded and non-fire retarded enclosure material. The measurement of the combustion gases included inorganic species and various organic species among them polychlorinated and polybrominated dibenzodioxins and furans, and selected brominated flame retardant agents. The detailed quantitative characterization of the combustion gases from the room fires forms a unique source of emission data for fire incidents in buildings. Chlorinated dibenzodioxins and furans were found in the combustion gases from all room tests. No brominated dioxins were found, however brominated furans were found. Further, the results from the room tests indicate that a TV-set treated with brominated flame retardants included in the fire load of a room fire does not necessarily increase the emission of bromine containing organic combustion products. The methodology applied for the sampling and analysis has been described in Part I of this series of articles.