- Author
- Dressler, D. P. | Robinson, R. S. | Gann, R. G. | Stone, J. P. | Williams, F. W. | Carhart, H. W.
- Title
- Biological Effect of Fire Suppression by Nitrogen Pressurization in Enclosed Environments.
- Coporate
- Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA Naval Research Lab., Washington, DC
- Journal
- Journal of Combustion Toxicology, Vol. 4, No. 3, 314-324, August 1977
- Keywords
- fire suppression | JP-4 jet fuel | nitrogen | pressurization | animals | decompression chambers
- Identifiers
- suppression
- Abstract
- Liquid fuel JP-4 fires have been successfully extinguished in confined spaces by nitrogen pressurization of pressures sufficient to reduce the percentage of oxygen to 10 percent. This oxygen percentage will sustain life as long as the partial pressure of oxygen remains constant. These experiments were conducted to test the effect of fire and nitrogen pressurization on the functioning of life organisms. Accordingly, a study was designed to assess what behavioral changes, including mortality, occur in laboratory animals due to smoke toxicity following extinguishment of a jet fuel (JP-4) fire nitrogen pressurization. The experiments were conducted at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) using a two-man decompression chamber. Two hundred and eleven Sprague-Dawley rats of standard weight were placed unanesthetized in individual cages and in running wheels to evaluate time of useful function (TUF). Ten runs were carried out with predesignated animals monitored for mortality, physiological functions, and pathological examination. JP-4, in a container in the chamber, was arc ignited and allowed to burn for various periods of time before nitrogen pressurization of two atmospheres with animals remaining in the chamber 15 minutes before depressurization. Of the 211 animals exposed, one died in chamber and one died fifteen days post exposure. Although some of the animals in the TUF runs were not able to maintian their equilibrium during exposure to smoke, there were no indications that nitrogen pressurization of two atmospheres with or withouyt fire was harmful to the animals.