Toxicity of Gases from Full-Scale Room Fires Involving Fire Retardant Contents

Abstract

Fire experiments were conducted in a 2-story fire resistant house using one of the first floor rooms as the burn room with various fire retardant or non-fire retardant items. The toxicity of the fire effluents was determined both by chemical analysis and bioassay techniques. Plywood boards arranged as corner walls and crumpled newsprint in a corrugated cardboard box were used as fire initiators. HCN and CO were the two major toxicants. The HCl level was generally and unexpectedly low in terms of toxicity. There was no case where fires involving fire retardant materials were more dangerous in tox icity than those of non-fire retardant ones. Calculated incapacitation times were in roughly good agreement with the actual incapacitation times for rab bits when the toxicants were limited to HCN and CO.