Fire Fatalities Research Articles

Magnesium, potassium, sodium and calcium in post-mortem vitreous humour from humans

Levels of magnesium, potassium, sodium and calcium in post-mortem vitreous humour from human controls, fire fatalities and drowning victims have been determined. The effects of time-related internal changes, external environmental parameters and different causes of death are evaluated. Despite the positive correlation and marked increase of potassium and, to a lesser extent, of magnesium and calcium with the length of the post-mortem interval, individual biological variability severely limits the usefulness of predictions of post-mortem interval based on electrolyte metal data. At best, there is only a 2 3 chance of a prediction being within 12 h of the true value. Vitreous humour metal concentrations are affected by external influences, such as the elevated temperatures of fires which increase the rate of release of intracellular magnesium and potassium. In cases where drowning is suspected, establishment or exclusion of this cause of death is not possible on the basis of vitreous humour electrolyte metal data because of possible post-immersion diffusion across the permeable membrane of the eyeball. It appears, however, that magnesium in salt-water cases and sodium in freshwater cases are related, albeit erratically, to the length of the immersion period.

Student Recruiting: Linear Programming as Problem-Solver and Heuristic

6. Derry, Louis M, Fatal Fires in America, Journal, 73 (September 1979): 67-79. 7. Federal Emergency Management Agency, Fire in the United States: 1979, 2nd ed. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Administration, 1982), p. 95. 8. Berl, Walter G, and Halpin, Byron M., Human Fatalities from Unwanted Fires, Journal, 73 (September 1979): 105-115. 9. Hemenway, David, United Problem (Harvard School of Public Health Working Paper, 1985). 10. Mierley, Marianne C., and Baker, Susan, P., Fatal House Fires in Urban Population, Journal of the American Medical Association, 249 (11) (March 18, 1983): 1466-68. 11. Gomberg, Alan and Clark, Louis P., Rural and Non-Rural Civilian Fatalities in Twelve States (Washington, D.C.: Federal Emergency Management Agency, 1982). 12. Hemenway, Fire Problem, op cit. 13. Hemenway, David, Monitoring and Compliance: The Political Economy of Inspection (Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 1985), pp. 87-91. 14. Corman, Hope; Ignall, Edward J.; Rider, Kenneth L,; and Stevenson, Anne, Fire Casualties and their Relation to Company Response Distance and Demographic Factors (Santa Monica, CA: Rand Paper Series, 1975). 15. Federal Emergency Management Agency, Residential Smoke and Detector Coverage in the United States (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Administration, 1982).

The Smoldering Issue of Fire Fatalities

8. Danziger, Sheldon, Gottschalk, Peter, and Smolensky, Eugene, Effect of Unemployment and Policy Changes on America's Poor, Institute for Research on Poverty, Discussion Paper #770-84, 1984. Table 6 shows a 0.7 point increase in poverty resulting from a rise in unemployment from 7.1 percent in 1980 to 9.6 percent in 1983. Shifts in the mean and variance of transfers, after controlling for secular trend and cyclical changes, increase poverty by 0.9 points. 9. We use simple time-series regressions to estimate the relationships between the logs of poverty and unemployment, real GNP per household and real cash transfers per household. We project poverty for 1984 to 1986 using the January 1985 CBO Economic assumptions and the estimates of transfers presented in the President's Budget for FY 1985. The estimation period in 1966 to 1983 for all groups except those of Spanish origin, for whom it is 1973 to 1983. Since not all of the transfer reductions requested by the President in his FY 85 budget were implemented, our projections will be somewhat pessimistic. However, more optimistic forecasts can be obtained if the estimation period is extended back to 1959 as in Blank and Binder, Macroeconomics ?.

Fatal house fires in an urban population

Fatal house fires in an urban population

Estimating effectiveness of state-of-the-art detectors and automatic sprinklers on life safety in residential occupancies

The report provides a qualitative assessment of the life safety impact of early warning fire detection and automatic sprinkler technology in residential occupancies. This assessment is based on the results of full-scale studies and statistics on residential fire fatalities from the NFIRS data base. Estimates of the impact of three alternatives, smoke detectors, standard automatic sprinklers, and residential sprinklers, are provided for major fire hazard scenarios in residential occupancies. The results of this study indicate that significant life safety benefits can be derived from broad application of detectors and sprinklers in all residential buildings.

Study of biological samples obtained from victims of MGM Grand Hotel fire.

Eighty blood samples and 17 respiratory-tract tissue samples containing fluid taken from victims of the MGM Grand Hotel fire were studied to assist in the determination of the cause of death. The blood and tissue-fluid samples were analyzed for carboxyhemoglobin, oxyhemoglobin, methemoglobin, and total hemoglobin. Outgassing studies were done on the tissue samples using gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy, and heavy metal analysis on inhaled soot was done by x-ray fluorescence. The carboxyhemoglobin values obtained on the samples were significantly higher than those reported by Clark County. However, the percentage of the victims with a carboxyhemoglobin saturation level of 50% or less is higher than that found in the Maryland fire fatality study, suggesting that other toxic factors may have contributed to the lethal nature of the fire.

Fire fatalities and deaths from burns in Denmark in 1980.

Fire fatalities and deaths from burns in Denmark in 1980.

Fatal house fires in an urban population

Fatal house fires in an urban population

Fatal House Fires in an Urban Population

House fires kill about 5,000 Americans annually, at a rate (2/100,000) that has remained almost constant for the past 50 years. House-fire deaths were studied in Baltimore, where 55 residents died during a three-year period. More than half of the deaths resulted from cigarette-ignited fires; 39% of the people who died in such fires were not the cigarette smokers themselves. For both blacks and whites, the death rate was highest in census tracts where property rental values were low. The death rate from fires ignited by heating or electrical equipment was nine times as high in the lowest-value census tracts as in the highest.

Biological Studies of Combustion Atmospheres

There is evidence supported by statistical information from fire deaths that many fire fatalities occur as a result of incapacitation of the victims by the toxic products given off during the early stages of fires, thereby preventing escape from the fire, rather than from direct exposure to heat or other factors. As an essential part of understanding these problems, a study has been made of the mechanisms of incapacitation resulting from exposures to atmospheres of ther mal decomposition products from polymeric materials. Under conditions ap proved by the Home Office Inspector, individual cynomolgus monkeys were ex posed to atmospheres increasing in separate experiments from very low smoke concentrations until early signs of physiological effects were detected. Measure ments were made of two kinds of physiological parameters: vital signs (respira tion, electrocardiography and respiratory blood gases) and parameters indicating effects on the nervous system (electroencephalography, auditory evoked poten tials, nerve conduction velocity). The atmospheres generated were designed to study the effects of hypoxia, hypercapnia, carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide and thermal decomposition products from wood, polyacrylonitrile, polyurethane foam, polypropylene, polystyrene and nylon produced under pyrolytic or ox idative conditions at a range of temperatures. The main findings were that the composition and hence the toxicity of the products from individual materials could vary considerably depending upon the different conditions of temperature and degree of oxygenation under which they were decomposed. However, despite the great complexity in chemical composition of the test atmospheres, the basic toxic effects on the animals were relatively simple, and for each in dividual atmosphere the toxicity was always dominated by one of these factors; carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, or irritants. The role of each of these fac tors in causing incapacitation in real fires is discussed.

The Cigarette Safety Act

HE U.S. Fire Administration has determined that, in G 1979, fires initiated by smoking materials killed approx[1 l 2 g imately2,300people,injuredapproximately 5,8oo others, and resulted in property damage amounting to approximately $210,000,000 (1). A study of 463 fire fatalities in > c A Maryland during 1972-77 found that 44%y of the fires were ignited by cigarettes (2). There are two common sequences associated with such fires. A cigarette is dropped or falls into upholstered furniture; it smolders and starts a fire several hours later, usually after people have retired for the night. Or, a smoker falls asleep in bed, often after consuming alcohol; the cigarette falls on the bedding, smolders, and ignites the mattress. There are at least three types of approaches to prevent such fires: change the smoker, the "fuel," or the ignition source. Education of smokers in the proper use and disposal of cigarettes has long been recommended. Since it is estimated that 99.99% of the 616 million cigarettes smoked each year are safely disposed of (3), it is unlikely that this percentage can be improved substantially by education. Moreover, there is a correlation between smoking and alcohol. Ofthe adult fire victims in the Maryland study 50% showed a blood alcohol concentration of above o.io%. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) attempts to change the "fuel" by regulating the flammability of carpets (4) and mattresses (S), and is currently monitoring the effectiveness ofan industry-wide voluntary flammability standard for upholstered furniture. This regulatory action to protect home furnishings from cigarette-ignited fires is the only means presently available to CPSC because the Commission's enabling legislation specifically excludes tobacco and tobacco products from its definiion of a consumer product. Is it possible to manufacture a fire-safe cigarette? Two important characteristics that determine a cigarette's likelihood of initiating fires are the tem-

Inorganic elements in the tracheas of fire fatalities

AbstractConcentrations of elements were determined in tracheal specimeans of fatal fire casualties and of non‐fire fatalities. Elevated concentrations of antimony, bromine, zinc, chromium, cobalt, iron, lead, cadmium and gold found in the group exposed to the fire environment were associated with deposition of soot. The presence of raised concentrations of antimony in fatalities was found to occur in association with increased content of carboxyhaemoglobin in blood and was greatest in fires involving major destruction of property. A relationship between the increased concentration of this element and the use of antimony containing fire‐retardants in construction materials could not be demonstrated.

Basic aspects of combustion toxicology

Combustion toxicology of fires is one of the most difficult subjects currently facing researchers, manufacturers, fire brigades, architects and regulatory/control bodies, and is a subject where there is a great deal of misunderstanding. It is important because many of the fatalities in fire are now attributed to the effects of the atmosphere (rather than burns and other injuries) and attention has been focussed on the problems by a number of recent and very serious fires throughout the world. Combustion toxicology involves the whole spectrum of physiological interactions of fire gases and smoke, from sublethal effects of low concentrations to very high concentrations where unconsciousness and death may result within minutes. It is complex because smoke and gases may contain many hundreds of different chemical species even from the burning of a simple polymer. Because of the great complexity, the understanding of the problem needs to be advanced on several fronts. The paper will outline briefly the approaches being adopted internationally, including pathological studies, biological work, analytical observations and model/fullscale fire experiments to probe the mechanisms of incapacitation, injury and death. Some of these topics (pathological and biological) will be presented by later speakers. The paper will therefore concentrate on the information being gained from laboratory decomposition and fire experiments (particularly with analytical monitoring) to understand the nature of the fire atmosphere. As part of this, the paper will describe a series of fullscale fire experiments (involving both natural and synthetic polymers) with measurements of oxides of carbon, oxygen, smoke, and ‘organic’ products using GC-MS ‘finger-printing’ techniques. Where possible, the results will be presented in a form suitable for estimating the potential contamination of areas remote to the fire from volume flow data of smoke and gases. This work provides not only an insight into the chemical nature of the fire atmosphere but is an essential part of the understanding of the overall hazards presented by fires and can show the wider ways in which the problems of combustion products can be solved. This is important because there is a great deal of interest internationally in the development of simple tests for combustion toxicity (using biological procedures) and methods proposed in other countries will be mentioned briefly. The possible role of these tests will be discussed within a framework of recent research which is attempting to understand the relationship of the tests with practical fire conditions.

Carbon Monoxide and Cyanide Inhalation

The results are reported of a one year study of HbCO and HCN blood levels of individuals exposed to those toxic gases, in fire fatalities and in operating motor vehicles.

Fire deaths in the Glasgow area: III. The role of hydrogen cyanide.

An assessment is presented of the importance of cyanide in fire deaths in the United Kingdom during the period 1976–79. Concentrations of cyanide and its principal metabolite in man, thiocyanate, were measured in 139 fire fatalities and for comparison purposes, in groups of non-fatal fire casualties, firemen and controls. Cyanide levels were found to be significantly elevated in fatalities and non-fatal casualties but not in firemen when compared to controls and in addition, smokers showed higher blood levels of cyanide than non-smokers. 78 per cent of the fatalities had elevated cyanide levels. 31 per cent had levels which would have caused toxic effects and of these, 12 per cent were likely to have shown symptoms of severe cyanide poisoning. No additive or synergistic effects were observed in fatalities between cyanide and other factors including carbon monoxide, alcohol, the age of the victim and the presence of heart disease. Thiocyanate levels in fatalities showed some correlation with the cyanide level but this was not sufficiently significant to permit thiocyanate to be used as an index of metabolised cyanide.

Fire deaths in the Glasgow area: I General considerations and pathology.

A study of fire deaths, in operation in the Glasgow area since 1976, has been aimed at elucidating the role of smoke and toxic gases in fire fatalities, especially where these occurred in buildings. During the first 3 years of the project, 199 cases were examined of which 182 were eligible for inclusion in the study. This paper reports the major pathological features of these cases and gives details of the epidemiological and demographic statistics. Most of the fatalities (79 per cent) occurred in dwellings. While the old and young members of the community were shown to be particularly vulnerable, male and female casualties were approximately equal in number. The peak periods for fire deaths were at weekends and in the winter months. Burn injuries were present in 83 per cent of cases included in the study, and in 66 per cent these would have been sufficient to cause death, although it was difficult to distinguish between premortem and postmortem burns. Fatal levels of carbon monoxide were present in 52 per cent of the fatalities, and in these cases death was attributed to the inhalation of fire gases. Soot deposition in the respiratory tract as a result of smoke inhalation was observed in 91 per cent of the cases and further injury to the respiratory tract was present in 84 per cent of the cases. Evidence of significant haemolysis was present in 48 per cent of the fatalities. Chronic disease processes were also observed in many fatalities, including lung disease (16 per cent), cardiovascular disease (29 per cent) and liver disease (32 per cent). These rates reflect the high levels of incidence of these diseases in the Glasgow area.

A closer look at cause and effect in fire fatalities—The role of toxic fumes

AbstractMuch has been learned about fire from laboratory studies on fire gases, but the idea of using a laboratory toxicity test to rank or rate materials with respect to fire safety has not proved to be a fruitful concept. ‘Toxicity’ standards or specifications are not an effective defense against the threat of toxic fumes in fire for reasons which are fundamental to the nature of fire itself. As a matter of public policy on materials standards, by far the best way of reducing the threat of toxic fumes and all other fire threats is by control and regulation of those materials properties or performance aspects which permit the elimination or moderation of fire. Some of the concepts discussed in this paper run counter to commonly held assumptions, and they are put forth for the purpose of stimulating open public discussion on alternative approaches to improved decision‐making in fire safety.

Fire fatality study

AbstractOver a six‐year period, 530 fire fatalities resulting from 398 fires were studied in the State of Maryland. The study had two major objectives: (1) to determine the specific cause of death by a detailed autopsy stud of fire victims, and (2) to determine the specific cause of fatality‐producing fire by an on‐the‐scene fire investigation. The fire fatality study was limited to residential fires and to fatalities that occurred within 6 h of the fire. The results of the toxicological analysis show that (1) 60% of the victims had a carboxyhemoglobin value greater than or equal to 50% carbon monoxide saturation, (2) an additional 20% had elevated carboxyhemoglobin with preexisting cardiovascular disease, (3) 11% of the victims had severe burns, (4) 9% were unexplained and (5) 40% of the victims had positive blood alcohol levels with 30% of these meeting the legal definition of intoxication (blood alcohol ≥0.1%). The fire investigations confirmed that the predominant fatal scenario is the cigarette ignition of upholstered furniture or bedding. This scenario accounted for 47% of the fires and 44% of the victims. Alcohol also appears to be significant factor in this scenario.

The importance of cyanide and organic nitriles in fire fatalities

AbstractA study of fire deaths in the Glasgow area has been in operation for 2½ years. Detailed pathological and toxicological examinations have been carried out on 127 fatalities, arising primarily in domestic fires. Cyanide and thiocyanate, the principal metabolite of cyanide in blood, were measured in blood samples from 100 fatalities and from groups of non‐fatal fire casualties, firemen and normal and post‐mortem controls. Cyanide concentrations in the blood of fatal and non‐fatal casualties were elevated to statistically significant levels compared to controls and 6% of fatalities had cyanide levels above 100 μmol 1−1 blood. No evidence was obtained for the operation of additive or synergistic effects in fire deaths between cyanide, carbon monoxide and ethyl alcohol. Thiocyanate was of value as an index of metabolized cyanide in non‐fatal subject groups but not in fatalities. Organic volatiles in blood from fire victims were analysed with a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer computer system and for the first time the presence of toxic nitriles other than cyanide has been demonstrated.

Fire deaths and drinking: data from the Ontario fire reporting system.

Data on recorded alcohol impairment of 264 victims of fatal fires in Ontario in 1976 are analyzed. Male victims were twice as likely to be impaired as females, and impairment was more common among those under 50 years of age. Alcohol impairment was most often noted in victims of fires at night and on weekends. Overall, 31% of adult victims were reported as alcohol impaired. The Ontario data suggests alcohol involvement in victims was not associated with smoking as a cause of the fire.