- Author
- Sale, P. D.
- Title
- Matches, Fire Hazard Tests.
- Coporate
- National Bureau of Standards, Washington, DC
- Journal
- NFPA Quarterly, Vol. 21, No. 4, 331-337, 1928
- Keywords
- matches | fire hazards | fire tests
- Abstract
- Of the property loss from fire, approximately one-sixth is attributed to matches and smoking. The latter as a fire cause may include the careless disposal of the match as well as of the cigarette, cigar or pipe coals. In a former paper it was indicated that a lighted match dropped on readily combustible materials, like dry grass, will cause ignition in most cases, whereas certain draft conditions favorable for ignition are required in order that the glow in the discarded cigarette or cigar butt may ignite it consistenly. While the match is more readily and more generally extinguished before being thrown away than the cigar or cigarette, it still appears that in the hands of careless users matches are fully as hazardous as the smoking materials in connection with which they are used. The object of these tests was to determine whether the hazard from discarded matches can be reduced by treating portions of the stems usually discarded, comparable with what was shown in the paper previously referred to as being possible for cigarettes.