- Author
- Gann, R. G.
- Title
- Fire Chemistry of Polymeric Materials.
- Coporate
- National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD
- Book or Conf
- Combustion Institute/Eastern States Section. Chemical and Physical Processes in Combustion. Fall Technical Meeting, 1985. November 4-6, 1985, Philadelphia, PA, C/1-C/7 p., 1985
- Keywords
- fire chemistry
- Abstract
- No industrialized country in the world has a worse fire loss record than the United States: 7600 deaths annually, nearly 300,000 injuries, and $6.5 billion dollars in property losses from 3 million reported fires and an estimated 30,000,000 more that went unreported. The total cost of fire in the U.S. was $30 billion in 1981. Several contemporary approaches have been suggested for reducing this profile. They are as diverse as changes in life style, ubiquitous automatic sprinklers, and tightly controlled materials selection in construction and furnishings. While the first two types have their points of interest, this paper describes the elements of fire science needed to effect the third approach.