- Author
-
Choudry, Q.
- Title
- Examination of Spontaneous Combustion Fire at Seneca Manufacturing Ltd., 7 Niagara Stone Road, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Niagara, Ontario, February 14, 1991. Fire Investigation Report.
- Coporate
- Office of the Fire Marshall, Canada
- Report
-
Fire Investigation Report
November 25, 1991
7 p.
- Keywords
-
fire investigations
|
spontaneous combustion
|
industrial plants
|
manufacturing
|
oils
|
insulating materials
- Abstract
- At 04:00 a.m. on Febriary 14, 1991, a fire occurred at Seneca Manufacturing Ltd., Niagara-on-the-Lake. The one storey building produced auto parts. There was two million dollars in property damage and no loss of life. The possibility of the fire occurring as a result of the spontaneous ignition of a vegetable oil, Quaker Draw 307, was investigated. Self-heating tests performed at the Centre of Forensic Sciences and at the Ontario Fire College indicated that Quaker Draw 307 is unlikely to spontaneously ignite. During tests at the Ontario Fire College, several materials other than Quaker Draw 307 were tested for spontaneous ignition. The materials were boiled linseed oil, teak oil and linseed oil cut with turpentine. Only the boiled linseed oil was found to be capable of spontaneous heating. The tests help to illustrate that not all oils are subject to spontaneous combustion/ignition. The following are factors which appear to contribute to spontaneous combustion: i) the degree of unsaturation of the oil; ii) the degree to which the oil is insulated in a material; iii) the mass ratio of oil to insulating material; iv) the amount of air supply.