- Author
- Gann, R. G. | Averill, J. D. | Butler, K. M. | Jones, W. W. | Mulholland, G. W. | Neviaser, J. L. | Ohlemiller, T. J. | Peacock, R. D. | Reneke, P. A. | Hall, J. R., Jr.
- Title
- International Study of the Sublethal Effects of Fire Smoke on Survivability and Health (SEFS): Phase 1. Final Report.
- Coporate
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, MA
- Report
- NIST TN 1439; NIST Technical Note 1439, August 2001, 150 p.
- Keywords
- fire research | smoke | toxicity | toxic hazards | survivability
- Abstract
- Fire smoke toxicity has been a recurring theme for fire safety professionals for over four decades. There especially continue to be difficulty and controversy in assessing and addressing the contribution of the sublethal effects of smoke in hazard and risk analyses. The Fire Protection Research Foundation (FPRF), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and NFPA have begun a private/public fire research initiative, the "International Study of the Sublethal Effects of Fire Smoke on Survival and Health" (SEFS) to provide this scientific information for public policy makers. This report on the first phase of the project estimates the magnitude and impact of sublethal exposures to fire smoke on the U.S. population, provides the best available lethal and incapacitating toxic potency values for the smoke from commercial products, determines the potential for various sizes of fires to produce smoke yields that could result in sublethal health effects, and provides state-of-the-art information on the production of the condensed components of smoke from fires and their evolutionary changes during transport from the fire.