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Page 2NIST Video Aids in Education About Flashover
People who know fire also know that fires depicted in movies and television for entertainment can leave the wrong impression about the speed at which fires grow and the amount of time available for escape. This misinformation can cause people to underestimate the danger of fire and cause them to make bad decisions in the event of a fire. The Building and Fire Research Laboratory at NIST has taken video footage from actual large scale fire tests and assembled them into a 10-minute VHS video that clearly shows the growth of fires in furnished rooms from ignition to flashover.
In the first segment, the rapid ignition and burning of a dry Christmas tree in a corner brings a living room to flashover in 45 seconds. (This short and powerful segment also is available for viewing and downloading as a web video using the link under the photo on the left.)
In the second segment, flaming ignition of an upholstered sofa in a living room results in flashover in 4 minutes. In the third segment, a small simulated wastebasket fire ignites an office workstation module and produces flashover in multiple modules in about 5 minutes. Thousands of copies of the tape have been distributed to date by NIST and the U.S. Fire Administration. It is a great tool for fire department public information and safety programs. There is no copyright on the tape; requestors may make as many copies as needed.
To receive a complimentary copy of the video in VHS or other formats, send an e-mail request to Mr. Nelson Bryner (nelson.bryner@nist.gov) or fax: 301-975-4052.
Still photo from living room video.
Still photo from office workstation video.
U.S. Army Needs Input to the Design of Infrared Imagers for Fire Fighters
U.S. Army Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate
U.S. Army Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate In the course of their duties, fire fighters and soldiers share many tasks in common. They both have to move and navigate; locate and evacuate casualties; survive a hostile environment; and make quality, informed decisions. The U.S. Army’s Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD), at Fort Belvoir, VA, is examining the feasibility of developing for fire fighters and soldiers an inexpensive, small, uncooled thermal imager.
The target price for the device is $2,000. The imager would not have the high-resolution performance of the very expensive devices currently used in military applications. However, the imager could work well enough for most fire fighter tasks and sufficiently low in cost to make it available to any fire fighter. The NVESD team is interested in input from the fire service; particularly in how fire fighters (many of whom already have experience with thermal imagers) would prefer the physical package to work. For example, useful data would be responses to questions such as:
Should the device be helmet mounted, handheld, or have both capabilities? Should it be part of situation awareness/communications system or should it be standalone? For more information about this activity or to provide your thoughts on helping the design evolve, please contact Mr. Randy Sullivan at rsullivan@thewexfordgroup.com or phone at 334.291.0981; or Mr. Hank Kinnison at hkinnison@thewexfordgroup.com or phone at 706.221.5897. Both are contract employees of the NVESD.
