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PUBLICATIONS

FR 3995

Santa Ana Fire Department Experiment at

1315 South Bristol, July 14, 1994

A.D. Putorti Jr. W.D. Walton

W.H. Twilley

S. Deal

Fire Safety Engineering Division

Building and Fire Research Laboratory

and

J.C. Albers

Fire Safety Division

City of Santa Ana Fire Department

NIST

United States Department of Commerce

QC Technology Administration

100 National Institute of Standards and Technology

. U56

FR

NO. 3995

IQQZl

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY

Gaithersburg, MD 20899

REPORT OF TEST

FR 3995

August 31, 1994

Santa Ana Fire Department Experiment at 1315 South Bristol

July 14, 1994

A.D. Putorti Jr, W.D. Walton, W.H. Twill ey, S. Deal

Building and Fire Research Laboratory

National Institute of Standards and Technology

U.S. Department of Commerce

Gaithersburg, MD 20899

and

J.C. Albers

Fire Safety Division

City of Santa Ana Fire Department

Santa Ana, CA 92706

Introduction

The Santa Ana Fire Department of Santa Ana, California conducted a series of fire

experiments in residences on South Bristol Street in the City of Santa Ana in July,

1994. NIST provided technical support, consisting of measurements of fire

phenomena, to the fire department during these experiments.

The experiment to be addressed in this report occurred on July 14, 1994, at 1315

South Bristol Street. The measurements included: temperatures within various

rooms, the velocity and temperature of outflowing gases, smoke detector activation

time, sprinkler activation times, and time to full room involvement. Data were

recorded every 5 seconds with a computerized acquisition system.

Structure

The building used for the fire experiment was a vacant one story single family

dwelling. The building was of wood frame construction, with gypsum board interior

walls and ceiling, and stucco over wire mesh and paper exterior walls. The floors

throughout the building, with the exception of the kitchen and bathroom, were

constructed of hardwood. The floors in the kitchen and bathroom were covered with

vinyl flooring.

The building had no basement, but rather a ventilated crawl space. The building was

covered with a pitched roof, consisting of asphalt shingles over redwood planks.

The layout of the building is shown in Figures 1 and 2, along with interior

dimensions. There were three bedrooms, a bathroom, living room, kitchen, and

garage. In order to simulate a second story bedroom, a section of roof was removed

and p room was added above the living room. The addition was of wood frame

construction, with the interior walls and ceiling consisting of fire rated 15.9 mm

(0.625 in nominal) thick gypsum board. There was no exterior covering over the wood

members of the second story room.

Smoke Detector

A smoke detector was installed in the hallway outside of the bedrooms in accordance

with NFPA 74. The detector was a single station, battery powered, UL listed,

ionization type smoke detector. The activation time for the smoke detector was

recorded manually by an observer equipped with a stop watch. The location of the

smoke detector is shown in Figure 3.

1
Sprinklers

In order to measure the activation time of typical residential type sprinklers, one

pendent sprinkler was installed in the ceiling of the living room, and one sidewall

sprinkler was installed on the front wall of the living room. It should be noted that

an actual residential sprinkler system installed according to NFPA 13D would require

more than one pendent or sidewall sprinkler to be installed in the living room.

The sprinklers had glass bulb elements with activation temperatures of 68°C (155°F).

Each sprinkler was connected to a pressure switch wi .h copper tubing. The tubing

was pressurized with approximately 210 kPa (30 psi) of air pressure. When a

sprinkler actuated, the signal was recorded on the data acquisition system, and timed

via an indicator light.

In addition to the sprinklers installed for the measurement of activation time, two

additional sidewall sprinklers, attached to a manually controlled water supply, were

installed in the front wall of the fire room for experimental safety. Water was

applied through the sprinklers for approximately 15 seconds at the end of the

experiment prior to manual fire fighting which extinguished the fire.

The locations of the various sprinklers are shown in Figure 3.

Temperature Measurement

The temperatures were measured with 0.51 mm (0.02 in) nominal diameter bare

bead, type K thermocouples. Floor to ceiling thermocouple arrays were located in the

living room, hallway, and second floor room as shown in Figures 3 and 4. The

elevations of the thermocouples above the floor are given in Table 1 for the living

room, and in Table 2 for the hallway and second floor.

Thermocouples were located within 20 mm (0.79 in) of the pendent and sidewall

sprinklers used to measure activation time. A thermocouple was located within a

sheet of crumpled newspaper located on the floor near the television set as shown in

Figure 3. This thermocouple was used to detect ignition of the newspaper, an

indication that full room involvement had occurred.

An array of thermocouples was located in the centerline of the open front window of

the second story room. The elevations of the thermocouples, as measured from the

top of the window are listed in Table 3.

The uncertainty in temperature measurement is ±2.2°C (±4.0°F) as derived from the

thermocouple wire manufacturer. The uncertainties in the thermocouple locations

are estimated at ±0.01 m (0.4 in.)

2
Velocity Measurement

The gas velocity in the front second story window was measured with a bi-directional

probe connected to a differential pressure transducer. The bi-directional probe was

located 0.15 ±0.01 m below the top of the window approximately 25 mm (0.98 in) from

a thermocouple. The uncertainty for the gas velocity measurements is ±0.1 m/s (0.3

ft/s) as derived from manufacturer data for the differential pressure transducer.

Fuel Load

The fire room was furnished by the Santa Ana Fire Department to simulate high fuel

load conditions. The furnishings consisted of two wood frame bunk beds (mattresses

without box springs), a double bed (mattress and box spring), pillows, two couches,

a television set, a lamp shade, and assorted articles of clothing. The total mass of the

contents was 552.0 kg (1217 lb) with an uncertainty of 10% estimated for the scale

used in the experiments. The masses of the individual components are listed in Table

4. Figure 5 shows the location of the furniture in the room.

In addition to the contents of the room discussed above, there was an ignition source.

The ignition source for the fire was a plastic waste basket with nominal overall

dimensions of 0.255 m high by 0.255 m wide by 0.188 m deep (10.0 x 10.0 x 7.4 in.)

The waste basket contained a total of eight 2 quart waxed cardboard milk cartons.

Two cartons were placed vertically in the basket, with another placed inside each of

the two forming two double layered vertically oriented open cartons. Inside each of

the vertical cartons was placed the tom pieces, nominally 0.0010 m

2

(1.6 in2

), from

two identical cartons. The waste basket was placed between the two sets of bunk

beds and ignited by removing one tom piece from each of the two vertical cartons,

igniting it, and dropping it into the carton.

Results

The sequence of events for the experiment is given in Table 5, with an estimated

uncertainty of ±2 seconds.

The temperatures measured within the living room (fire room) are shown in Figure

6. The data is presented for various distances from the floor in order to simplify the

graphs yet show the temperature profile within the room. Due to the failure of the

living room thermocouple tree shortly after full room involvement the temperature

data is available only up to 120 seconds. The thermocouple near the pendent

sprinkler and on the floor in the newspaper, however, operated throughout the

experiment. The data from these thermocouples are shown in Figure 7. The data

from the thermocouple near the sidewall sprinkler, also shown in Figure 7, ends at

approximately 120 seconds due to thermocouple failure.

3
The temperatures measured within the hallway are shown in Figure 8. As in the

case of the fire room, temperatures are given versus time for selected heights above

the floor.

Temperatures measured in the second floor room are graphed in Figure 9. The

temperatures of gases entering or leaving through the open window at the front of

the room are shown in Figure 10.

The velocity of the outflowing gases measured by the bi-directional probe at the front

window of the second story room is shown in Figure 11.

4
Table 1. Living room thermocouple elevations.

Thermocouple Number Distance

From Floor

(m)

Distance

From Floor

(ft)

1 2.41 7.89

2 2.36 7.73

3 2.28 7.48

4 2.21 7.23

5 2.13 6.99

6 1.98 6.50

7 1.83 6.00

8 1.68 5.51

9 1.53 5.02

10 1.38 4.53

11 1.23 4.04

12 1.08 3.54

13 0.93 3.05

14 0.78 2.56

15 0.63 2.07

16 0.48 1.58

17 0.33 1.08

18 0.18 0.59

5
Table 2. Hall and second story room thermocouple elevations.

Thermocouple Number Distance

From Floor

(m)

Distance

From Floor

(ft)

1 2.42 7.92

2 2.37 7.76

3 2.29 7.51

4 2.22 7.27

5 2.14 7.02

6 1.99 6.53

7 1.84 6.04

8 1.69 5.55

9 1.54 5.05

10 1.39 4.56

11 1.24 4.07

12 1.09 3.58

13 0.94 3.08

14 0.79 2.59

15 0.64 2.10

16 0.49 1.61

17 0.34 1.12

18 0.19 0.62

6
Table 3. Window thermocouple elevations.

Thermocouple Number Distance From

Top of Window

(m)

1

2

3

4

5

6

0.15

0.30

0.45

0.60

0.75

0.90

Distance From

Top of Window

(ft)

0.49

0.98

1.48

1.97

2.46

2.95

7
Table 4. Fuel load.

Item Mass

(kg)

Weight

(lb)

Mattress 1 25.9 57.1

Mattress 2 14.5 32.0

Mattress 3 14.5 32.0

Mattress 4 22.7 50.0

Mattress 5 22.2 48.9

Box springs 23.6 52.0

Couch 1 52.2 115.1

Shade 0.5 1.1

Bed clothes 19.1 42.1

Pillows 7.7 17.0

Television 71.7 158.1

Couch 2 54.4 120.0

Bed frame (wood) 6.4 14.1

Bunk bed frames (wood) 54.4 120.0

Clothing 151.0 332.9

Total 552.0 1217.0

Table 5. Sequence of events.

Elapsed Time (s)

0

85

100

105

110

360

Event

Ignition

Smoke detector actuation

Pendent sprinkler actuation

Sidewall sprinkler actuation

Transition to full room involvement

Water application begins

8
Figure 1. Plan view of the first floor.

9
Figure 2. Plan view of the second

floor.

10
11
Figure 4. Instrument locations on

the second floor.

12
Figure 5. Plan view of fire room with combustible contents.

13
Figure 6. Temperatures in the living room.

14

Temperature

(°F)
Temperature

(°C)

Q

1 I*! II L_.IT, J I I I 1 I I L_l I I I I I I I I I I I I I 1—1 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350

Elapsed Time (s)

Figure 7. Single thermocouple temperatures within the living room.

15

Temperature

(°F)
600

O

CD

sz>

03

0

Q_

0

h500

400

300

200

100

0

1000

800

600

400

200

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350

Height (m), (ft)

a 2.42 (7.92)

1 .84 (6.04)

o 1 .54 (5.05) v 1 .24 (4.07)

x 0.94 (3.08)

o 0.64(2.10)

x 0.34(1.12)

4nDa

cP d^A

o°o

.A' Aa O

Co ^

AA

'coO

eft

O >

V Vy Vy

°<PO°^

> r7 ^ V v V^7V

W

V^V x\' XX X*^<x**

o

V ./^^

>r Oo

*

*

*

* ^ox

1 .1 -J- J

Elapsed Time (s)

Figure 8. Temperatures in the hall adjacent to the living room.

16

Temperature

(°F)
600

500

400

0

§ 300

CD

I 200

H

100

0

1000

800

600

400

200

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350

Height (m), (ft)

a 2.42 (7.92)

1.84(6.04)

o 1 .54 (5.05)

*

q*

**

1 » 1 1 * 1 1 l » 1 » 1111 j i

Elapsed Time (s)

Figure 9. Temperatures in the second story.

17

Temperature

(°F)
Q

I i i .... i .... i .... i i

~ 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350

Elapsed Time (s)

Figure 10. Temperatures in the second story front window.

18

Temperature

(°F)
Velocity

(m/s)

40

30

23

10

0

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350

Time (s)

Figure 11. Velocity of the gases at the second story front window.

19

Velocity

(ft/s)
PAGE 1 i NIST-114 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

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Santa Ana Fire Department Experiment at 1315 South Bristol, July 14, 1994

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This report of test addresses a fire experiment conducted on July 14, 1994 in a vacant single family dwelling at 1315 South Bn

Street in Santa Ana, California. Fire phenomena measured included: temperatures within various rooms-, the velocity and tempera

of outflowing cases, smoke detector activation time, sprinkler activation times, and time to full room involvement.

KEY WORDS (MAXIMUM OF 9; 28 CHARACTERS ANO SPACES EACH; SEPARATE WITH SEMICOLONS; ALPHABETIC ORDER; CAPITALIZE ONLY PROPER NAMES

home fires; single family dwellings; smoke detectors; sprinklers; temperature

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