Toxicity Evaluation of Fire Effluent Gases from Experimental Fires in a Building

Abstract

Two compartment fire experiments were conducted in a two storied ferro concrete building to investigate evolution of toxic gases and toxicity of at mospheres in the burn room and its surrounding area. One was the combustion of natural polymer contents, and the other was for synthetic polymer- containing contents. Major toxicants evolved such as CO, HCN, HCl, SO2, NOx, acrolein, formaldehyde were determined and toxic effects were evaluated by means of toxicity index, Σ(Ci/Cfi). Mice and rabbits were used as test animals and exposed to fire effluent gases in the burn room and exposure boxes. For rabbits, blood analysis and other biological examinations were carried out to find out the cause of the death or incapacitation.