- Author
- Birky, M. M.
- Title
- Review of Smoke and Toxic Gas Hazards in Fire Environment.
- Coporate
- National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD
- Report
- CIB W14/26/75 (USA),
- Book or Conf
- University of Edinburgh Centre for Industrial Consultancy and Liaison with the Department of Fire Safety Engineering. Fire Safety of Combustible Materials. International Symposium. October 1975, CIB W14/26/75 (USA), England, 231-252 pp, 1975 AND U.S./Japan Government Cooperative Program on Natural Resources (UJNR). Panel on Fire Research and Safety. Volume 1. Toxicity. October 19-22, 1976, TH9127.J2U58 1976, Tokyo, Japan, 1-23 pp, 1976, England, 1976
- Keywords
- smoke | toxic gases | fire hazards | exposure | human beings | analytical studies | toxicology | thermal degradation | inhalation toxicity
- Abstract
- Fire statistics show that at least 50% of the fire related deaths can be attributed to "smoke inhalation." Detailed investigations of fire fatalities and autopsies of fire victims show that the interaction of carbon monoxide, pulmonary injury, alcohol and cardiovascular disease plays a role in many of these deaths. The research efforts designed to assess the toxicological effects of products of thermal degradation can be divided into three broad categories: (1) assessment based on extensive chemical analysis, (2) assessment based on analyzing for specific toxicants and 93) assessment based on bioassay techniques frequently combined with analysis for a few selected toxicants. Assessment categories 1 and 2 have mainly addressed the problem of the gaseous phase of the degradation products, with little consideration given to the particulate phase (smoke). These methodologies illustrate the limitation of basing a hazard assessment on the assumption that the toxicity of the fire environment is due solely to a few known toxicants. In addition, the particulate phase may play a predominant role in the inhalation toxicity that cannot be assessed with chemical analysis. One concludes that due to the complexity of the fire environment, an assessment of this hazard will require the combined efforts of toxicologists, chemists and combustion scientists.