Update on SFPE Design
Fire Scenarios Standard
Charles Fleischmann
University of Canterbury
Mission - To develop a standard on methods to create
design fire scenarios for a performance-based fire
protection design.
• Methods that are developed are to be defendable,
transparent, and reproducible
• Apply the methods to develop recommended design fire
scenarios
Who is on the committee?
Name
Kees Both
Jason Butler
Jason Floyd
Craig Hofmeister
M. C. Hui
Martin Nillson
David Stroup
Employer
Promat Research
Savannah River Nuclear Solutions
JENSON HUGHES
The Fire Consultants
BCA Logic Pty Ltd
AIG
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Interest Represented
Producer
Facilities Management
Research and testing
Design Engineer
Design Engineer
Insurance
Enforcement official
Country
Netherlands
USA
USA
USA
Australia
Sweden
USA
Piotr Tofilo
The Main School of Fire Service
Specialist
Poland
Colleen Wade
Shawn Wrightson
Jason Smart
Alternates
John Stauder
BRANZ
Koffel Associates
American Wood Council
Research and testing
Design Engineer
Producer
New Zealand
USA
USA
The Fire Consultants
Alternate to Craig Hofmeister
USA
Don Turno
Savannah River Nuclear Solutions
Alternate to Jason Butler
USA
Where is the committee heading?
• Building-Occupant systems1
• Triplet – Objective – Criteria – Scenario
• Characterising the hazards based on the occupancy using
existing fire statistics
• Develop of short list of scenarios
(general common to multiple buildings & occupancy specific)
• Quantify the design fires
1Jutras,
I., Meacham, B., Tubbs, B. and Hurley, M., A Proposed Approach for Developing and
Presenting Fire Scenarios, Design Fires and Criteria for Regulation and Design, 10th PBD conference,
Brisbane, Australia
Short List of Scenarios (2009-2013)
NFPA Data – non-residential-annually
~100,000 fire
~70 civilian deaths
~1500 civilian injuries
~$2.6 billion direct property loss
http://www.nfpa.org/research/reports-and-statistics/fires-in-the-us/overall-fire-problem/non-residentialstructure-fires
NFPA Data - Occupancies
•
•
•
•
•
•
Mercantile/Stores
Education/Schools
Offices
Industrial
Hotels/Motels
Warehouses
• Restaurants & Bars
• Religious & funeral
• Health Care
•
•
•
•
Nursing homes
Hospitals and hospices
Mental Health
Clinics and doctors’ office
Criteria Used to Develop List of Potential
Scenarios
• Analysis based on area of origin data
• >5% of all fires in this class of building, or
• >2 fatalities/year and disproportionate number of fatalities, or
• >20 injuries/year and disproportionate number of injuries, or
• >$5x106/year and disproportionate damage estimate
• All fires, confined fires, non-confined fires
Proportionality Factor
# of (fatalities) in the space
# fires in the space
Proportionality Factor =
≥2
all (fatalities)
all fires
Where the value in () is fatalities, injuries, damage
Categories of Structure Fire
• All fires
• Confined fires - confined cooking fires, confined chimney or flue
fires, confined trash fires, confined fuel burner or boiler fires,
confined commercial compactor fires, and confined incinerator
fires
• Non-confined fires
Exemplar NFPA Data
Structure Fires in Store and Mercantile, by Area of Origin
2009-2013 Annual Averages
Area of Origin
Fires
2,250
16.5%
Kitchen or cooking area
5.8%
Non-confined 510
36.3%
Confined 1740
780
5.7%
Laundry room or area
7.2%
Non-confined 630
3.3%
Confined 160
730
5.4%
Unclassified outside area
2.8%
Non-confined 250
10.0%
Confined 480
550
4.0%
Sales of showroom area
5.6%
Non-confined 490
60
1.3%
Confined
530
3.9%
Unclassified equipment or
4.2%
Non-confined 370
3.1%
Confined 150
470
3.5%
Trash or rubbish chute, area or
40
0.5%
Non-confined
9.0%
Confined 430
Proportionality Factor
Direct Property
Fatalities Injuries Damage
Damage (in
/# fires /# fires /# fires
Millions)
Civilian Fatalities Civilian Injuries
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
11.1%
11.1%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
-
42
30
12
14
13
1
2
2
0
25
24
1
12
11
1
2
1
1
14.0%
11.0%
41.4%
4.7%
4.8%
3.4%
0.7%
0.7%
0.0%
8.4%
8.8%
3.4%
4.0%
4.0%
3.4%
0.7%
0.4%
3.4%
$28
$27
$1
$11
$9
$2
$8
$8
$0
$72
$72
$0
$22
$22
$0
$1
$1
$0
4.7%
4.5%
25.0%
1.8%
1.5%
50.0%
1.3%
1.3%
0.0%
12.0%
12.0%
0.0%
3.7%
3.7%
0.0%
0.2%
0.2%
0.0%
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
2.7
2.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.8
1.9
1.1
0.8
0.7
1.0
0.1
0.3
0.0
2.1
1.6
2.8
1.0
1.0
1.1
0.2
0.8
0.4
0.3
0.8
0.7
0.3
0.2
15.0
0.2
0.5
0.0
3.0
2.2
0.0
0.9
0.9
0.0
0.0
0.4
0.0
Summary from NFPA Data
Structure Fires in Store & Mercantile
by Area of Origin
Proportionality
Factor > 2
Damage
Injuries
Fatalities
Non-Confined
Kitchen or cooking area
Laundry room or area
Sales of showroom area
Maintenance or paint shop area
Other known area of origin
Non-Vehicle Storage areas (combined)
% Fires > 5%
Summary of Scenarios
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%,$
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
$
%
Hospital and
Hospices
Mental Health
Facilities
%,F,I
%,F,I
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
Clinics or Doctors'
Offices
Nursing Homes
Religious and
funeral properties
%
%
%
%
$
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%,$
Eating and Drinking
Establishments
Educational
Properties
Industrial and
Manufacturing
%
%
%
I,$
$
%,$
Office
Warehouses
Stores and
Mercantile
%,F
%
Health Care
Facilities
Attic or ceiling/roof assembly of concealed space
Bedrooms
Confined chimney or flue
Dining room, bar or beverage area, or cafeteria
Exterior roof surface
Exterior wall surface
Garage or vehicle storage area
Heating equipment room
Kitchen or cooking area
Large assembly area with fixed seats
Laundry room or area
Lavatory, bathroom, locker room or check room
Machinery room or area or elevator machinery room
Maintenance or paint area
Non-Vehicle Storage areas (combined)
Office
Other known area of origin
Processing or manufacturing area, or workroom
Sales or showroom area
Shipping and receiving or loading area
Small assembly area, less than 100 person capacity
Storage of supplies or tools or dead storage
Storage room, area, tank, or bin
Trash or rubbish chute, area or container
Unclassified equipment or service area
Unclassified outside area
Unclassified storage area
Vacant structural area
Hotels and Motels
Fire Scenario Non-Confined Fires
First Item Ignited
Store and Mercantile 2004-2008 Annual Average
Cooking materials, including food
Non-confined fire
Confined fire
Electrical wire or cable insulation
Non-confined fire
Confined fire
Flammable and combustible liquids and gases, piping and filter
Non-confined fire
Confined fire
Rubbish, trash, or waste
Non-confined fire
Confined fire
Unclassified item first ignited
Non-confined fire
Confined fire
Structural member or framing
Non-confined fire
Confined fire
Fires
2,000 12%
270
2%
1,730 32%
1,660 10%
1,490 14%
170
3%
1,400
9%
850
8%
560
10%
1,400
9%
380
3%
1,020 19%
1,370
8%
910
8%
460
9%
830
5%
830
8%
10
0%
Direct Property
Damage
Civilian Injuries (in Millions)
19
-8%
$12
-2%
10
-4%
$11
-2%
9
-4%
$1
0%
12
-5%
$62
-10%
10
-4%
$62
-10%
1
-1%
$0
0%
107
-44%
$84
-13%
103
-42%
$84
-13%
5
-2%
$0
0%
5
-2%
$23
-4%
3
-1%
$23
-4%
2
-1%
$0
0%
10
-4%
$45
-7%
10
-4%
$45
-7%
0
0%
$0
0%
5
-2%
$68
-10%
5
-2%
$68
-10%
0
0%
$0
0%
Limitations (Scenarios)
• Data Outside the USA?
• Prescriptive Codes are preventing potential scenario that does not
show up in statistics
• Ensure flexibility
• May need to subgroup scenarios (i.e. bulk retail, storage)
• Process hazards difficult to define
• Are damage assessments adequate?
Establishing Fire Growth Rates
Nilsson, Johansson, & Van Hees, Statistical and Empirical Data – Applied to Determine the Effect of Arson.
Incident data
Currently
have from
NFPA
Incident data
- need from
NFPA
Expert
judgement from
committee
Q=α1
t2
Q=α2t2
Probability
Density
Function
Q=α3t2
Q=α4t2
Q=α5t2
Q=α6t2
Q=α7t2
Cumulative
Density
Function
Quantifying Design Fires - Kitchen Scenario Example
• Common Kitchen – Single
cooktops, oven, large appliances,
small appliances, cabinets, food
storage
• Commercial Kitchens - Multiple
cooktops, a number of large
appliances and multiple occupants
involved in the cooking activities. In
addition, a large extraction systems
& suppression system
Common Kitchen Scenarios
1. Cooking oil fires
2. Appliances
3. Counter top fire spreading to
other combustibles
4. Ignition of stored
kitchen/cooking items
Single Pan – Domestic Kitchen
40
Heat Release Rate (kW)
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
0
60
120
180
240
B-1
300
360
Time (s)
B-2
B-3
Chow - Experimental Evaluation on Performance of Open Kitchen Fire Suppression Systems
420
480
540
600
660
Multiple Pan – Commercial Kitchen
1400
2 pans (A1)
Heat Release Rate (kW)
1200
6 pans (B-1)
1000
800
600
400
200
0
0
300
600
900
Time (s)
1200
1500
Appliances
1000
AP1
900
AP2
Heat Release Rate (kW)
800
AP3
700
AP4
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
0
300
600
900
1200
Hietaniemi - Burning of Electrical Household Appliances - An Experimental Study Time (s)
1500
1800
2100
2400
Dishwasher
Fire Spreading to Cabinets
700
CB-S1
Heat Release Rate (kW)
600
CB-S2
Oak-S1
500
Oak-S2
400
PB-S1
300
200
100
0
0
120
240
360
480
600
Cleary - Smoke Alarm Performance in Kitchen Fires and Nuisance Alarm ScenariosTime (s)
720
840
960
1080
NIST Technical Note 1784
Storage Found in Commercial Kitchens
3000
Pre-flashover
2500
Post-flashover
Heat Release Rate (kW)
Q=0.1876(t)^2
Q=0.0469(t)^2
2000
Q=0.0117(t)^2
1500
1000
500
0
0
300
600
900
Time (s)
1200
1500
Design Fire Characteristics
Appliance
Refrigerator –
freezers
(free burning)
Refrigerator –
freezers
(in a cupboard)
Dishwasher
(free burning)
Dishwasher
(in a cupboard)
Washing machine
max.
RHR
(kW)
1970
(219)
Average Effective
Heat of Combustion
(MJ/kg)
28.1
(0.1)
Average
Ysmoke
(kg/kg)
0.05
(0.018)
Average
YCO
(kg/kg)
0.049
(0.007)
Average
YCO2
(kg/kg)
2.217
(0.072)
1526
(534)
18.6
(0.1)
0.038
(0.013)
0.048
(0.014)
1.565
(0.039)
411
(91)
548
(247)
333
(106)
31.3
(2.8)
19.5
(0.7)
32.3
(2.0)
0.036
(0.0004)
0.017
(0.002)
0.021
(0.006)
0.067
(0.010)
0.048
(0.009)
0.038
(0.015)
2.810
(0.266)
1.671
(0.016)
2.432
(0.335)
Way Forward
• Finalize design fire methodology
• Apply methodology to common & occupancy specific scenarios
• Develop methodology for fires that don’t fall into
use/occupancy groups selected
• Work to define acceptance criteria
Committee Members Needed
• Outside USA
• Insurance
• Enforcement
• Facility Manager