Title: A fire test on a steel solvents cupboard
First published: 1974
Description: An excellent research report from the UK's original Fire Research Station, Borehamwood.. A good example of the high calibre of work carried out there. This particular report concerns a study of the efficacy of a closed steel cupboard in preventing a full -sized external fire from reaching the contents - highly flammable liquid in bottles. This was carried out at the UK's famous Cardington fire test laboratory. The work has direct relevance wherever flammable liquids are stored - e.g. science stores in the education sector, industrial solvent storage and flammable liquids storage in shops and offices. As usual the results of the study proved surprising and certainly not intuitive - the non-flammable steel cupboard proved worse for protecting the flammable contents than a wooden cupboard which itself is obviously flammable. The reasoning was that steel is a good conductor of heat whereas wood is not - the wood therefore offering much longer times before the interior contents would burn. This could be the difference between life and death when considering the time needed to escape from a fire.
Subjects: Fire Research, Fire Research Station, flammable liquids, Life threat in fire, Burning buildings
Places: Cardington, Borhamwood
People: Peter Fardell, George Stark