Induced fire hazards by gasoline spills

Abstract

The present study relates to an arson fire incident that recently occurred at an animated film production studio in Kyoto, leading to gasoline spills on the first floor instantly causing ignition in the building, claiming the lives of 35 people. Thus, with many fatalities often associated to such arson fire caused by gasoline, this study focuses on features including inflammability, combustibility, and volatility as the fire hazards of gasoline. The vapor pressure, flash point, and evaporation rate of gasoline are measured, and a prediction model is developed to monitor the changes in the vapor pressure and flash point of gasoline along with the progress of evaporation. In addition, combustion experiments of gasoline spills on the floor and ignition tests of gasoline vapor generated from the gasoline spills were conducted. Finally, an evaporation and diffusion model of the gasoline spill is proposed, while the ignition and explosion hazards caused by gasoline spills are deduced. The proposed models in this study are expected to be utilized for hazard evaluations in an arson fire caused by gasoline and the fundamental data for fire phenomenon analysis.