NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS REPORT

5751

MEETING OF EXPERTS ON FIRE RESEARCH

COMMITTEE ON APPLIED RESEARCH

EUROPEAN PRODUCTIVITY AGENCY

by

A. F. Robertson

<QJBS>

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS
THE NATIONAL BUHEAl) OF STANDARDS

Functions and Activities

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NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS REPORT

NBS PROJECT NBS REPORT

1002-30-4820 January 24-, 1958 5751

MEETING OF EXPERTS ON FIRE RESEARCH

COMMITTEE ON APPLIED RESEARCH

EUROPEAN PRODUCTIVITY AGENCY

by

A. F* Robertson

for

National Science Foundation

(Letter of January 13, 1958)

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MEETING OF EXPERTS ON FIRE RESEARCH

COMMITTEE ON APPLIED RESEARCH

EUROPEAN PRODUCTIVITY AGENCY

INTRODUCTION

A meeting of Experts on Fire Research was held at the

Chateau de la Muette on Monday and Tuesday, January 20 and

21, 1958. Delegates of nine countries were present and a representative from one additional country (Austria)

indicated regret that an official delegate could not attend®

In addition, the Chairman, Mr® Clarke, indicated that he

had received communications from both Australia and Canada

indicating their interest in the meeting® A list of

delegates is included in the Appendix®

HIGHLIGHTS OF MEETINGS

The meeting was called to order by Dr® King, Deputy

Director of the European Productivity Agency, who presented

an excellent review of the history of OEEC and the development of EPA, He emphasized the need of European countries

to form an effective cooperating body if they were to

keep pace with American and Russian technical advances®

He challenged the group to make their good intentions

evident by deeds. He concluded his talk with a request

that the delegates accept Mr. Clarke as Chairman of the

meeting. This suggestion was accepted without question.

Mr. Clarke opened the meeting with a request that

each delegate describe briefly the fire research activities

in progress in his country. This was done in the following

order

Germany - It seemed evident that Dr® Schubert was not

in a position to speak for Germany as a whole® He,

himself, was from Hamburg in charge of a laboratory which

was chiefly concerned with marine construction. At a later

time during the meeting a letter from a laboratory in

Karlsruhe was noted which indicated regret at their

inability to attend®
- 2 -

Switzerland - Mr. Gretener indicated interest in

cooperating with the proposed activities but said that no

central fire research laboratories were available nor

would be for 3 or 4 years.

Netherlands - Fire research activities are rather

well centralized under Dr. van Hoogstraten ' s direction

at TNO. They are concerned with ignition, spread,

extinguishment and confinement of fires. They agree to a

cooperative attack on problems.

M Swe den - Mr. C. Moller indicated that fire protection

work was not directly state controlled. Their group had

excellent liaison with other Scandinavian countries. One

example of this involved standardization on a spread of

flame test method and group study of this problem.

Sweden was concerned with problems of use of plastics

in buildings and fire in underground structures. It was

common to find buildings of 20 stories height with 6-10

stories underground. How to fight fires underground seemed

to present a problem,

Norway - Mr. Stroemsheim indicated that their problems

were quite similar to those of Sweden. Norway was concerned,

however, with fires aboard ships. They have completed

some research on chimney problems. Most of their fire

studies should be considered as developmental testing.

United States - Dr, Robertson presented a brief outline of organizational situation in the States. Excerpts

were furnished from the NFPA publication "Research on

Fire" to provide an indication of the objectives or fields

of interest of some twenty odd organizations active in

the fire problem, A distinction was made between those

laboratories having primary interest in the problem, and

organizations which would perform studies on request.

France - Each of the four delegates spoke. Fire

studies relative to building problems were under Colo

Fackler's direction at CSTB. Col. Chanteaud represented

Civil Defense activities; Mr. Etienne was largely

concerned with fire extinguishment problems such as those

involved in aircraft crash fires. He is associated with

the Laboratories du Feu, Champs sur Marne. Col, Heywang

was concerned with fire safety in public buildings,

standardization of equipment for which has proceeded

well since ' 46 .
- 3

-

Italv - Here national responsibility is located in

the Ministry of the Interior® They have five experimental

laboratories and are concerned with problems presented by

high buildings, ship, and airport fires®

United Kingdom - Mr® Clarke presented a brief review

of current problems being considered in Britain® Three

problems emphasized were:

Statistics - Emphasis was placed on the usefulness

of statistics in research on study of fires® (Britain

is to the writer's knowledge the only country at present

making real use of statistical analysis of fire loss

data for the purpose of directing fire research activities®

This activity has been underway over a period of about 10

or more years and they are finding the results of

increasing value®)

Ships - The statement was made that the use of fire

resistant bulkheads had not been justified because so

often fires occurred at dock when doors were open, while

there was no record of their usefulness during fires at

sea. This seems worth studying further.

Foam - Emphasis was placed on the need to increase

by at least 1000 times the efficiency of pumping foam®

Perhaps he meant the capacity of foam units®

Research Method - Emphasis was placed on the need

of new methods for study of fire problems®

Following lunch the meeting was reconvened and discussions were presented on each item of the agenda® In

general there seemed to be agreement that each item was

of interest and worthy of study. However, enthusiasm was

not overwhelming and without encouragement from the

Chairman, it seems doubtful that interest would have

been unanimous®

SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS DEVELOPED AT CONFERENCE

The following action was decided as desirable by

those in attendance:
-4-

1. A document would be prepared and forwarded to

the International Committee for Safety of Life at Sea

for consideration at their meeting in I960, This

document would recommend that action be taken to compile

statistics on fire losses aboard ships,

2. A questionnaire was prepared during the conference

and will be circulated by the Secretary for the purpose

of preparing a publication describing fire research

laboratories in Europe, This will take a form somewhat

similar to NFPA's publication "Research on Fire".

. • \

• ; 3. An attempt ylll be made to circulate on a semiannual basis a resume of the fire research studies

currently under way in the various countries,.

COMMENTS ON MEETING

The following comments seem appropriate in connection

with this meeting:

1. Feasabilitv of recommendations

Items 1 and 2 are quite feasible from our point of

view. We might cooperate in item 2 by supplying copies of

the NFPA publication "Research on Fire". Item 2 will

probably present a problem in countries with scattered

research facilities. It seems rather evident that the

value of such a reference source would far outweigh the

inconvenience involved in its preparation.

Item 3 will present some problems. It is not now

clear to what extent we are expected to participate.

If such cooperation is expected there are several

organizations which might be able to act in a liaison

capacity. A recommendation of the best one for this

purpose cannot now be made.

2. Recommended U. S. Actions

(a) To promote cooperation for interchange of

information

Most of the nations represented look to

Britain and the U. S. as leaders in the field of fire research.

Because of this, continued representation and cooperation on

committees of this type seems desirable. This could be

implemented by cooperation in the specific recommendations

of the conference as mentioned above.
- 5

-

The National Bureau of Standards will furnish

each of the participating countries with a list of publications relating to fire research together with currently

available reprints of technical papers in this field,

( b ) In use of the conference d iscussions to

improve fire research work in the U. S*

It becomes increasingly evident that the

collection of fire loss statistics by the British provides

them with a very valuable tool for direction of their

activities in this field. There is no adequate collection

of such statistics in our country* T he NFPA effort in

this field is not nearly detailed enough* The problem of

state's sovereignty is a hindrance to collection of such

data on a national scale* Nevertheless, it appears that

it would be very profitable to attempt some such compilation

of statistical data from representative states.

(c ) Value to U* S* of meeting

There is little doubt that the exchange of

information at meetings of this type is beneficial to

us. Although we do maintain close contact with the

British, the opportunity of first hand personal exchange

of ideas is always stimulating. They are by far the most

advanced in this field but many useful ideas were developed

during discussions with other members of the conference.
~ S '

' -
APPENDIX

GROUPE D ‘'EXPERTS SUR LA RECHERCHE EN MAT IE RE D'INCENDIE

MEETING OF EXPERTS ON FIRE RESEARCH

20-21 janvier 1958

LISTE DES PARTICIPANTS

ALLEMAGNE

GERMANY

Dr o Ingo R. SCHUBERT

See-Beruf sgenossenschaf

Hamburg

Zipplehaus 5

FRANCE J. FACKLER

Chef de Service au Centre Scientifique

et Technique du Batiment t 4. avenue du Recteur Poincare, Paris

Lt, Colonel J. CHANTEAUD

Servic^ National de la Protection Civile

Ministere de L'Intdrieur

60, Bid. Gouvion St. Cvr, Paris

Lt » Colonel R. HEYWANG

Service Prevention

Ministere de l’Interieur

60, Bdo Gouvion St. Cvr, Paris

Chef de Bataillon A. ETIENNE

Service Etudes et Recherche

Ministere de l'Interieur

60, Bdo Gouvion St« Cvr, Paris

ITALIE

ITALY

Dr. Ing. 0. PIERMARINI

Commandant les Sapeurs Pompiers

Via Genova, 3

Roma

Dr 0 Ing 0 Ao BOLOCAN

Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche

Piazzale delle Scienze, 7

Roma

NORVEGE

NORWAY

Po STROEMSHEIM

Chief Inspector of Fire Services

Norge s Brannkasse

Wergelandsveien, 1

Oslo
APPENDIX -2- Continued

M SUEDE

SWEDEN

C . MULLER

Managing Director of Svenska

Brandskyddsf oreningen

(Swedish Fire Protection Association)

Brunkebergstorg , 15

Stockholm C

PAYS-BAS

NETHERLANDS

Dr. C. W. Van HOOGSTRATEN

Director of the Institute for Fire

Safety T.N.O.

Lange Kleiweg, 5

Ri.i swi.ik

Ir. W. E. BGGINK

Deputy Chief Inspector of the Fire

Fighting Force

Oostduinlaan, 185

La Have

ROYAUME-UNI

UNITED KINGDOM

S. Ho CLARKE (President)

Director of the Fire Research Station

Boreham Wood

Nr. Elstree, Herts

SUISSE

SWITZERLAND

P. BAUMANN

Directeur de 1 'Etablissement d' assurance

c.ontre l'incendie du Canton de Bale-ville

Marktgasse, 8

Bale

M. GRETENER, Ing. EPF , Directeur du Service de Prevention

d ' Incendie

Nuchelerstrasse , 4-5

Zurich

ETATS-UNIS

UNITED STATES

Dr. A. ROBERTSON

Chief, Fire Protection Section

U. S. National Bureau of Standards

Washington 25i D. C.

Dr. E, SCOTT

USRO/ECON

2, rue St. Florentin

Paris
APPENDIX -3- Continued

Secretariat :

Dr* A. KING Directeur Adjoint A.E.P.

J. POGNAN A.EPo

J. T URGEL "

USCOMM-NBS-DC

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Sincluir Weeks, Secretary

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

A. V. Astir), Director THE NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

The scope of activities of the National Bureau of Standards at its headquarters in Washington,

D, C., and its major field laboratories in Boulder, Colorado, is suggested in the following listing of

the divisions and sections engaged in technical work. In general, each section carries out spe- cialized research, development, and engineering in the field indicated by its title. A brief

description of the activities, and of the resultant reports and publications, appears on the

inside front cover of this report.

WASHINGTON, D. C.

Electricity and Electronics. Resistance and Reactance. Electron Tubes. Electrical Instruments. Magnetic Measurements. Dielectrics. Engineering Electronics. Electronic Instrumentation.

Electrochemistry.

Optics and Metrology. Photometry and Colorimetry. Optical Instruments. Photographic

Technology. Length. Engineering Metrology.

Heat and Power. Temperature Physics. Thermodynamics. Cryogenic Physics. Rheology

and Lubrication. Engine Fuels.

Atomic and Radiation Physics. Spectroscopy. Radiometry. Mass Spectrometry. Solid State

Physics. Electron Physics. Atomic Physics. Nuclear Physics. Radioactivity. X-rays. Betatron. Nucleonic Instrumentation. Radiological Equipment. AEC Radiation Instruments. Chemistry. Organic Coatings. Surface Chemistry. Organic Chemistry. Analytical Chemistry.

Inorganic Chemistry. Electrodeposition. Gas Chemistry. Physical Chemistry. Thermochemistry. Spectrochemistry. Pure Substances.

Mechanics. Sound. Mechanical Instruments. Fluid Mechanics. Engineering Mechanics.

Mae6 and Scale. Capacity, Density, and Fluid Meters. Combustion Controls.

Organic and Fibrous Materials. Rubber. Textiles. Paper. Leather. Testing and Specifications. Polymer Structure. Organic Plastics. Dental Research.

Metallurgy. Thermal Metallurgy. Chemical Metallurgy. Mechanical Metallurgy. Corrosion.

Metal Physics.

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Materials. Constitution and Microstructure.

Building Technology. Structural Engineering. Fire Protection. Heating and Air Condi-'

tioning. Floor, Roof, and Wall Coverings. Codes and Specifications.

Applied Mathematics. Numerical Analysis. Computation. Statistical Engineering. Mathematical Physics.

Data Processing Systems. SEAC Engineering Group. Components and Techniques. Digital

Circuitry. Digital Systems. Analogue Systems. Application Engineering.

© Office of Basic Instrumentation ® Office of Weights and Measures

BOULDER, COLORADO

Cryogenic Engineering. Cryogenic Equipment. Cryogenic Processes. Properties of Materials.

Gas Liquefaction.

Radio Propagation Physics. Upper Atmosphere Research. Ionospheric Research. Regular

Propagation Services. Sun-Earth Relationships.

Radio Propagation Engineering. Data Reduction Instrumentation. Modulation Systems.

Navigation Systems. Radio Noise. Tropospheric Measurements. Tropospheric Analysis. Radio

Systems Application Engineering.

Radio Standards. Radio Frequencies. Microwave Frequencies. High Frequency Electrical

Standards. Radio Broadcast Service. High Frequency Impedance Standards. Calibration

Center. Microwave Physics. Microwave Circuit Standards.