Shanley et al. 2012). A literature review was performed in order to achieve the objectives of this study. Investigations Institute, Florida (USA), Gorbett G, Hicks W, Kennedy P, Hopkins R (2006) Full-Scale Room Burn Pattern Study. Most of the studies conducted on calcination are limited in their examination of gypsum wallboard variations. The origin and ignition of the three tests were in a pillow placed along the back corner of the couch on the floor against the wall with the window. Processes that identify thresholds needed for fire patterns to be identified can be better defined through experimental work or pattern recognition studies. There are four logical components to the literature review presented: The first part of the review describes the work completed for establishing a degree of fire damage assessment for commonly encountered materials in structure fires. 2012; Mealy et al. One method was suggested, but was never fully conceived or put into practice (Keith and Smith 1984). Identifying processes of using fire patterns in determining an area of origin. No literature exists that defines methods on how to identify a fire pattern from a cluster of damage. :+ ex|8+W0[^gEX%:rUXd$I. The following keywords were used for the literature review, including: fire patterns, fire effects, fire investigation, arson investigation, burn patterns and burn indicators. Fire occurs due to the exothermic reaction of combustion (burning), producing heat and light. Fire effects are the physical or chemical changes that occur to different materials when exposed to the byproducts of combustion (e.g. 2012), Resultant floor burn pattern from carpet pad seam without use of ignitable liquids (Wood et al. Two 15ft by 15ft (4.57m4.57m) structures with a ceiling height of 7ft (2.13m) were tested. Duxbury, California (USA), Cooke R, Ide R (1985) Principles of Fire Investigation. The fire testing conducted for fire patterns has evolved with the changing definition of the term. Paper presented at the Fire and Materials Conference. volume4, Articlenumber:4 (2015) Nuclear Regulatory Commission. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Typically, flashover occurs at a =1.0 (Wieczorek et al. 2009). Surface effect is the result of the nature and material of the surface which contains the fire pattern, affecting the actual shape of the lines of demarcation displayed, or increasing The most emphasis was placed on combustibles involved and openings and ventilation. Other areas of science regularly deal with inverse problems typically through extensive mathematical study. SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineers, NFPA, MA, Wieczorek C, Vandsburger U, Floyd J (2004) An evaluation of the global equivalence ratio concept for compartment fires: data analysis methods. Such patterns can provide clues as to the origin, cause or propagation path of the fire. Consequently, a new optical measurement method was developed to use with digital photographs and digital image analysis. Match. pour patterns). Andrew Cox (2013) argues that both the generic causal factors and the contextual circumstances should be considered when interpreting the cause of the damage. A few of the studies also indicated that truncated cone patterns, specifically V-patterns, were located away from the true origin causing confusion for the investigators (Hoffmann et al. However, an assumption can be made for fuel-controlled fires that higher temperatures will occur at the plume interface with any building or contents surface. These included that soot deposition can be used to aid in the area of origin determination and that the clean burn area size was proportional to the fire size (Wolfe et al. The legal and science professions are currently scrutinizing forensic science, which is forcing the nation to question the disciplines scientific foundation (NIJ 2009). The final two tests were performed after multiple television sets and electronic appliances were placed on wood stands and on the floor in a burn room containing an upholstered chair and area rugboth of these tests were allowed to progress into full-room involvement and were not extinguished until 4min past flashover (Hoffmann et al. Often times the soot deposited within the room of origin will be higher in elevation with distinct lines of demarcation and thick soot deposits. Several myths have been associated with geometric shapes that cause investigators pause before using the shapes as descriptors. Paper presented at the International Symposium on Fire Investigations. 14). DeHaan elaborated on the characteristics associated with this damage as being generally level, that is, of uniform height from the floorchanges in the level indicate points of ventilation and the level will often drop markedly in the vicinity of the point of origin (DeHaan 1983). There has been extensive work done in the area of flashover for traditional residential-sized compartments with a single opening. The effects that remain after a fire are typically related to the damage resulting from the cumulative heat flux received by an exposed material. However, the authors did not propose a working prototype. This was the first published work that outlined how to develop a legend and diagram as demonstrative aids for applying the heat and flame vector analysis. Photograph of a Plume-Generated Fire Pattern (fire origin was located at the base of this damage-test conducted at EKU by author). Fire and Arson Investigator Journal of the International Association of Arson Investigators 7:1618, Crofton, MD, Straeter R, Crawford C (1955) Techniques of Arson Investigation. 2013). Most notably, patterns which indicated areas of intense burning but were remote from the point of origin were observed and were determined to be from ventilation effects only. These two studies demonstrated a relatively predictable response of visible damage to the gypsum wallboard consistent with the varying DOFD identified in NFPA 921 (Figs. Schroeder later confirmed this assessment by performing a variety of constant heat flux and duration exposure tests on an assortment of wood samples in an attempt to determine if wood could be reliably evaluated by the fire investigator for intensity and duration (Schroeder 1999). The current definition for fire patterns is the visible or measurable physical changes, or identifiable shapes, formed by a fire effect or group of fire effects (NFPA 2014). 2009-DN-BX-K232. Fire patterns are the result of a fire or its. Once the investigators have narrowed down a 100 square foot section of burned area as the starting point, they bring out the fine-toothed combs. Paper presented at the International Symposium on Fire Investigations. 2003). V-Patterns Heat Shadows & Chimney Effect Heat shadows occur when heavy furniture shields part of a wall. As the temperatures are higher in the room of origin it is expected that an upper layer will be affecting those surfaces higher in elevation. Fire Technology 49:395409, Saito K (1993) Study of Fire Induced Flow Along the Vertical Corner Wall. 1997). The statistics can be found in Additional file 1 associated with this review paper. Shanley et al. Fire Technology 16(2):95103, Article Barnott et al. The majority of these texts stated that the investigator should consider the damage to be caused by an ignitable liquid if the investigator would visibly observe damage to the floor in the shape of a puddle, have hard-edged burn marks in the shape of a pour, or the damage had the appearance of trailers (i.e. Fire Technology 39:207224, Hopkins R, Gorbett G, Kennedy P (2007) Fire Pattern Persistence Through Post-Flashover Compartment Fires. The authors do not, however, indicate how, provided this information, an investigator arrives at a conclusion. Ultimately, the locations of damage and fire patterns are compared to the causal factors from the physics of the fire, alternative causes and background information. 1997; NFPA 2014; Carman 2008). 2008). The collection of high temperature gases within a compartment is also a source of heat flux that can cause damage. In addition, this study identified that greater damage (clean burn) occurred at the seams between drywall sections within their tests when they were not covered with tape and mud, due to leakage through the unsealed openings. 13). The earliest texts on fire investigation expressed the importance of using damage and fire patterns in determining the area of origin (Rethoret 1945; Straeter and Crawford 1955; Kennedy 1959; Kirk 1969). 923, Tinsley A, Gorbett G (2013) Fire Investigation Origin Determination Survey. 736, Thomas P (1981) Testing products and materials for their contribution to flashover in rooms. 1. California Privacy Statement, 2009-DN-BX-K232. The majority of this review is of North American work. These white areas were similar in appearance to clean burn patterns at first glance, but were shown upon closer examination to be differentiated based on smeared, directional appearance with observable water drip marks. Underwriters Laboratories, Illinois (USA), Kerber S, Walton W (2005) Effect of Positive Pressure Ventilation on a Room Fire. National Institute of Justice, Report 60400, Washington D.C. (USA), Qian C, Saito K (1992) Fire-Induced Flow Along the Vertical Corner Wall. 2010). None of these texts, however, provided a methodology to the reader on how to go about identifying what constitutes greater and lesser visible or measurable char damage. The constant force is applied to the tool by two 3.3lb constant force springs. 1997; Wood et al. The deposition of smoke/soot onto surface linings and contents within an enclosure stems from the following: Fluid flows Temperature and velocity of the gases colliding with cooler surfaces (thermophoretic forces). The literature review of fire pattern usage in the fire investigation profession illustrates several gaps with the overall process of using damage to determine an area of origin. Fire and Arson Investigator Journal of the International Association of Arson Investigators 11:1518, Crofton, MD, Kirk P (1969) Fire Investigation. fire effects); Many of the early and current researchers assumed that every investigator was able to visibly assess varying degrees of damage equally without processes (Shanley et al. The researchers noted differences and attributed these to small variations in the inflow of air. 1997; Carman 2008; Gorbett et al. He lists causal factors for this white area of damage as possibly hose stream wash, surface paper burned off leaving a clean noncombustible surface behind, or the wall may have been surfaced differently prior to the fire (i.e. This type of damage was noted in the USFA study with specificity (Shanley et al. NFPA (2014) refers to this as fire pattern generation and provides a list of them including plume-generated, ventilation-generated, hot gas layer-generated and suppression-generated. The three tests were better instrumented with three total heat flux gauges, one radiant heat flux gauge, three gas sensors (measuring O2, CO2, CO), and gas velocity probes (Oullette 2008). 2013). The resulting damage appears to be angled lines of demarcation with the lower end of the line of demarcation being nearest the source of the smoke flow (Fig. Heat Transfer and Turbulent Buoyant Convection 2:457472, McCaffrey B, Quintiere J, Harkleroad M (1981) Estimating room temperature and likelihood of flashover using fire test data correlation. This study also developed a simplified grid system out of tent pole stakes to decrease scene processing time. However, no formal procedure has been developed, including: how to determine a direction, how to incorporate compartment fire dynamics into the process and how to make an area of origin conclusion based on the results. This study also noted that it was evident that the water did not wash all of the deposited material away from the wall or ceiling surface because the patterns had a color which was lighter than the surrounding area but not as light as a clean burn or protected area (Shanley et al. Other factors that have been shown to influence the HRR within a compartment and the location of combustion are suppression-related activities that affect ventilation. One aspect of looking at radiant heat flux is to determine if the secondary object has been raised to a critical temperature or is receiving a critical heat flux where ignition of that object is possible. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40038-015-0008-4, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40038-015-0008-4. This article reiterated the same alligatoring misconception as promulgated at the time, but despite this connection the goal of the article was to establish a method of defining varying DOFD for the visible observation of char (Keith and Smith 1984). FIRE PATTERNS. Only one article was identified related to the use of visible char appearance in identifying varying DOFD where quantitative measures were attempted (Keith and Smith 1984). The results for the eight tests that did not reach full-room involvement were reported as having asymmetric fire patterns and heat damage was consistent with the location of the exposure fire for all but one pre-flashover exposure fire test (Hoffmann et al. Annotated by Robert A. Corry. No studies have been conducted specifically to evaluate these patterns, however, some characteristics of these patterns have been identified in other fire pattern studies. Fire investigators commonly use the lack of thermal damage behind or under contents, known as protected areas, as evidence that the damage was caused by an upper layer. The measuring pin is constructed of a 2mm cobalt drill bit. The studies demonstrated that the following causes could result in damage similar to irregular floor patterns, including: fires from interstitial space below the floor decking, melting plastics, draperies, furniture items, ventilation path and radiant heat from fully developed fires. A fundamental principle of decision analysis is that people do not always have all the data or information needed to make a good decision. This study provides an understanding of the fire risk of building's exterior wall geometry design at different altitudes. 2010). Additional file 1 outlining the variables for all experimental tests reviewed has been developed and also provided. Not all compartment fires will transition through flashover (Drysdale 2011). by 11ft, 9in. Hicks et al. Carman attributed the failure to the lack of understanding by the investigation profession of the differences between pre- and post-flashover fire behavior and resulting damage. As the fire continues to grow, the pattern becomes . The tool is built around a digital indicator gauge commonly used in machining. Google Scholar, Babrauskas V (1981) Will the second item ignite? Multiple carpet pads were tested. Therefore, the fire effect itself may provide a basis for determining what degree of heat flux and/or duration is required to cause the effect. Forty-eight tests were conducted with a standardized ANSI/UL wood crib and ten additional tests were conducted with commercially available polyurethane foam recliners. The first use of the term pattern was in 1969 by Kirk when discussing the normal behavior of heated gases. There are several effects that may occur to gypsum wallboard when exposed to heat and fire conditions, including: color changes, soot deposition, charred paper, paper consumed and clean burn (Fig. He encouraged investigators to focus on low burns, because as he says any low point in a burn should be investigated as a possible origin (Kirk 1969). 2006; Hicks et al. The upper layer is a term commonly given to the collection of smoke and heated gases during the progression of the fire near the upper regions of the compartment, typically near the ceiling. Fire is a highly three-dimensional, time-variant process with time-variant boundary conditions. National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST Monograph 179, Gaithersburg, MD, Posey E, Posey J (1983) Using Calcination of Gypsum Wallboard to Reveal Burn Patterns. Fire and Arson Investigator Journal of the International Association of Arson Investigators 63:2440, Utiskul Y (2007) Theoretical and Experimental Study on Fully-Developed Compartment Fires. 1997; NFPA 2014; Gottuk and White 2008). 2013). Examples of Fire Patterns: "Inverted Cone". Cox provided a process for better interpreting the compartment fire dynamics that is still under development and has not undergone a major field test for user application. 2023 BioMed Central Ltd unless otherwise stated. 2013), a standardized depth measurement system (Mealy et al. 2010). A study conducted in 2012 examined the effect of carpet underlayment/carpet pad on post-flashover fire, floor patterns (Wood et al. Two methods are used to visibly interpret damage on gypsum wallboard (1) cross-sections of the wall can be evaluated for visibly identifiable changes to the gypsum wallboard through depth and (2) the surface effects can be evaluated for visibly identifiable varying DOFD. The literature review is limited to structure fire studies. The upper layer gases are elevated in temperature and have the ability to radiate heat downward onto the tops of contents throughout the compartment. The participants were provided a diagram of the room and photographs of the contents, walls and ceiling. 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