Firebrand production from building components fitted with siding treatments

Abstract

Firebrand production from real-scale building components under well-controlled laboratory conditions was investigated. Re-entrant corner assemblies were ignited and during the combustion process, firebrands were collected to determine the size/mass distribution generated from such real-scale building components under varying wind speed. In prior work, a unique ignition methodology was developed to generate firebrands from re-entrant corner assemblies constructed of wood studs and oriented strand board (OSB). In this study, this ignition methodology was applied to re-entrant corners constructed from wood studs/OSB but fitted with actual siding treatments (tar paper and cedar siding) to determine the influence of siding treatments on firebrand generation from wall assemblies. Firebrands were collected with pans filled with water, and then the size and mass of firebrands were measured after drying. The size and mass distributions of firebrands collected in this study were compared with the data from prior component tests as well as the limited studies available in the literature on this topic. Some firebrands were found to be lighter for a given projected area than others, likely produced from cedar siding or tar paper. The effects of applied siding treatments on firebrand production are discussed in detail.