Analysis of fire deaths in Poland and influence of smoke toxicity.

Dwelling fires have changed over the years because building contents and the materials used in then have changed. They all contribute to an ever-growing diversity of chemical species found in fires, many of them highly toxic. These arise largely from the changing nature of materials in interior finishes and furniture, with an increasing content of synthetic materials containing higher levels of nitrogen, halogen and phosphorus additives. While there is still a belief that carbon monoxide is the major lethal toxic agent in fires, the hydrogen cyanide and acid gases released from these additives are now well-recognised as major contributory causes of incapacitation, morbidity and mortality in domestic fires. Data for the total number of 263 fire death cases in the Mazowieckie region (mainly Warsaw area) of Poland between 2003-2011 for dwellings fires were obtained from pathologists, forensic toxicologists, fire fighters and analysed. Factors contributing to the death such as the findings of the full post mortem examination (age, sex, health status, burns), the toxicological analysis (carbon monoxide, alcohol etc.), and a thorough investigation of the scene (fire conditions, fuel, etc.) were taken into account and are summarised.

Toxic Combustion Product Yields as a Function of Equivalence Ratio and Flame Retardants in Under-Ventilated Fires: Bench-Large-Scale Comparisons.

In large-scale compartment fires; combustion product yields vary with combustion conditions mainly in relation to the fuel:air equivalence ratio (Φ) and the effects of gas-phase flame retardants. Yields of products of inefficient combustion; including the major toxic products CO; HCN and organic irritants; increase considerably as combustion changes from well-ventilated (Φ < 1) to under-ventilated (Φ = 1⁻3). It is therefore essential that bench-scale toxicity tests reproduce this behaviour across the Φ range. Yield data from repeat compartment fire tests for any specific fuel show some variation on either side of a best-fit curve for CO yield as a function of Φ. In order to quantify the extent to which data from the steady state tube furnace (SSTF [1]; ISO TS19700 [2]) represents compartment fire yields; the range and average deviations of SSTF data for CO yields from the compartment fire best-fit curve were compared to those for direct compartment fire measurements for six different polymeric fuels with textile and non-textile applications and for generic post-flashover fire CO yield data. The average yields; range and standard deviations of the SSTF data around the best-fit compartment fire curves were found to be close to those for the compartment fire data. It is concluded that SSTF data are as good a predictor of compartment fire yields as are repeat compartment fire test data.