- Author
- Bukowski, R. W.
- Title
- Quantitative Assessment of Smoke Toxicity Hazards in Large Structures.
- Coporate
- National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD
- Book or Conf
- UJNR Panel on Fire Research and Safety. 8th Joint Panel Meeting. May 13-21, 1985., Tsukuba, Japan, 85-98 p., 1985
- Keywords
- toxicity
- Abstract
- In the last few years, toxicity has taken on the mistique in fire that cancer has in medicine. Fire statistics clearly tell us that most fire victims die from exposure to toxic fumes rather than from burns. But while these toxic gases are the medical cause of death, how often are they really the direct reason for the fatality? If, for example, the person's escape path was cut off by excessive heat or blinding smoke, trapping the person for long enough for the gases to have their effect, would you not say that this heat or smoke was the reason that the fatality occurred? For if it had not been there, the person could have escaped. In such a case, reducing the toxicity without changing the heat or smoke production might not improve safety unless the additional survival time allowed for rescue of the trapped occupant. Thus, to make real progress in improving safety, we must gain an understanding of fire hazard and the interrelationships of the various factors which affect the development of hazard in building fires.