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NIST Simulator Provides New Picture of LODDs
By Ed
Comeau © 2000 writer-tech.com,
llc
 The
investigation into the causes of a line-of-duty death is one of the
most painful and difficult tasks a fire department will ever have to
face. Determining the exact sequence of events and contributing factors
that led to the death of a firefighter can take months. Even then,
it’s an uncertain science—a blending of witness testimony, evidence
collected at the fire scene and educated “best guesses” about what
happened.
But an exciting new tool is helping departments hit by LODDs see a
whole new picture of these incidents using the science of computer
modeling. Given specific data from the scene, it creates
three-dimensional and animated pictures of what may have happened at
LODD incidents based on the laws of physics.
Developed by the Building and Fire Research Laboratory of the National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Fire Safety Engineering
Division, it’s called the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS). The FDS
simulator is already offering valuable new insight into the sequence of
events that led to recent LODDs, but this is only the beginning. NIST
researchers hope the simulator will lead to realistic computer-based
training to better prepare firefighters for the hazards they face.
NIST has been using computer modeling for years, but only recently has
it reached a point where the simulator can be run on a desktop
computer. The latest version has a feature called “Smokeview” that
translates physical data into animation and 3-D graphics—making it
much easier for the average fire investigator to use.
Dan Madrzykowski is leader of large fire research for the Building Fire
Research Laboratory at NIST. “We noticed that a picture is worth a
thousand words (in computer modeling). With the Smokeview aspect,
instead of graphs and numbers, we can now generate a picture that will
give a time and history,” he says.
NIST’s first opportunity to use FDS to help a department piece
together events leading to LODD occurred last spring, when it assisted
the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Services Department
(DCFEMS) in its investigation of the Cherry Road Fire of May 30, 1999.
The fire took the lives of two Washington firefighters and left
investigators with several baffling questions. DCFEMS contacted NIST
and asked if they would be able to assist.
Since the fire occurred close to NIST’s facilities in Maryland, NIST
was able to respond to the scene, evaluate the structure where the fire
occurred and take the precise measurements that the computer model
would need.
According to Captain Tim Gearheart, the safety officer for DCFEMS,
“The only information we had to provide to NIST was the basic
timeline.” They did not provide them with any timeline information
regarding fire ground operations, because one of the questions they
hoped the simulation would answer was specifically when did ventilation
occur and what role did it play in the incident.
“As a committee, we were trying to explore every avenue and not leave
any stone unturned,” says Gearheart.
SEE IT ONLINE
The result of the collaboration between NIST and DCFEMS is a simulation
of the Cherry Road incident that is contained on a CD ROM. It can also
be seen on the web at http://fire.nist.gov/6510.
Robert Duval, senior fire investigator for the National Fire Protection
Association, assisted in the reconstruction and says FDS helped
investigators take a large step forward. “The incident was confusing
because of the timeline and the type of injuries. The committee was
having difficulty visualizing what had happened,” Duval says. “Was
it a backdraft or a flashover?”
By translating the physical data into graphics, the information
suddenly takes on a new dimension that clarifies the significant
contributing factors in a way that was not previously possible. “The
CD shows the heat flow and the temperatures, by transposing that with
the location of the firefighters…it cleared it all up and helped make
sense of their injuries.”
One of the perplexing questions involved the timing of when a door was
opened and how it affected the fire. By using the model, the
investigators were able to run different scenarios and see what the
computer would predict as the outcome. They could then match what the
simulator showed with information they had collected from the scene and
from witnesses.
“What we looked at in DC was ‘What would happen if we took this
window out a little earlier, what would happened if we had ventilated
on the roof, or opened this particular door,’” says Frank
Washentiz, safety and occupational health specialist with the National
Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Washenitz works in
NIOSH’s Division of Safety Research, and is responsible for
conducting firefighter fatality investigations across the country.
“This tool gives us an opportunity to answer a lot of questions that
we could not ask without the fire model,” he says. (NIOSH also
participated in the investigation of this incident and published a
report on its findings.)
PUTTING IT TOGETHER
How is a simulation put together?
One of the first steps is to obtain a good set of measurements of the
building where the fire occurred. This includes the room dimensions,
the location of openings such as doors and windows, stairways and other
features.
 Next, it is
critically important to identify what is referred to as the fuel
package or fuel load that was involved in the fire, the total quantity
of combustible contents of the space. NIST’s simulator is plugged
into a database of the heat release rates of different types of
furniture and furnishings, expressed as British Thermal Units (BTUs) or
Kilowatts (kW) per second. The model divides the space involved in the
fire into thousands of “cells.” In the DC simulations, the cells
measured 8 inches by 8 inches by 4 inches high.
Once the physical data is entered into the computer, it is time to run
the simulation. The computer will model the conditions for each cell,
and then combine all of them together to provide the user with an
overall prediction of the fire.
On a desktop computer with a 600 MHz processor it takes about 20 hours
to run a single simulation, according to Madrzykowski. “That’s
using 76,000 cells. If you increase the number of cells, you increase
the computational size.”
So what did the Cherry Hill simulation show?
The fire occurred in a two-story townhouse, with a basement that was
accessible from the exterior. Shortly after midnight, the occupants on
the second floor were wakened when a smoke detector activated. They
went down to the first floor and exited the building through the front
door, leaving it open.
When firefighters arrived on the scene, they reported that heavy smoke
was coming out of the open front door. Crews made entry, and removed a
front window on the first floor from the interior to provide
ventilation. Crews also removed windows on the second floor, front
side.
Within approximately two minutes, another crew opened the sliding glass
door on the basement and made entry. Within a short period, there was a
rapid buildup of heat inside of the building. Firefighters on the first
floor were able to escape, as were the firefighters in the basement.
According to Madrzykowski, the firefighters in the basement reported
that they saw a “tunnel” in the smoke that gave them a clear avenue
of escape out the sliding glass door through which they had entered.
However, there were three firefighters operating inside of the building
on the first floor near the stairway to the basement were trapped by
the rapid heat buildup. Two firefighters were killed, while the third
one, who was located in between the other two, suffered severe burns.
A puzzling aspect to the fire, reports Madrzykowski, was the extremely
rapid heat buildup. “There were two experienced teams, with two
charged hoselines. How come no one used a hoseline to defend
themselves?” In addition, it was difficult to explain why it appeared
that the middle fire fighter suffered severe burns, while the outer two
were killed in the fire. One of the fatalities was burned in a
directional fashion up the front of his body, while the other fire
fighter was burned uniformly all over his body. What would account for
the difference in burn patterns?
The fire had started in the basement. The NIST report described the
following damage:
“The post fire investigation determined that the fire started near an
electrical fixture in the ceiling of the basement. The basement had
severe fire damage throughout, indicating a well-mixed, post-flashover
fire environment. The stairway from the basement to the first floor
also showed signs of flame impingement on the ceiling and walls. The
door at the top of the basement stairs was open during the fire and had
been partially burned away. The basement stairway opened into the
living room on the first floor. The living room had significant
deposits of soot throughout, with limited thermal damage. Most of the
paper on the gypsum board walls and ceiling remained intact and sofas
in the room only showed signs of pyrolization or limited burning on the
upper portions of the back cushions and top surfaces of the seat
cushions. Areas in the living room away from the basement door opening
had less thermal damage.”
This unusual scenario puzzled the investigators from DCFEMS. By using
the FDS, they were able to replicate the conditions that the
firefighters were encountering and determine what the theoretical
temperatures were inside of the building. According to the NIST
summary…
" …the venting of the sliding glass doors in the basement increased the
heat release rate of the fire very rapidly. The FDS calculation
indicates that the opening of the basement sliding glass doors provided
outside air (oxygen) to a pre-heated, under-ventilated fire
compartment, which then developed into a post-flashover fire within 60
s. The fire filling the basement forced high temperature gases
(approximately 820 °C (1500 °F)) up the basement stairwell at
velocities in excess of 8 m/s (18 mph). The high velocity gas stream
flowed into a pre-heated, oxygen depleted first floor living room. The
FDS predictions show the hot gas flow moving across the living room
ceiling and banking down the back wall of the townhouse.  Between
the doorway to the basement and the sofa on the back wall of the
townhouse, the temperatures from approximately 0.5 m (1.6 ft) above the
floor, to floor level are in the range of 180 °C to 260 °C (350 °F
to 500 °F). These thermal conditions developed within seconds of the
rapid fire growth in the basement."
The model showed that superheated gases moved up the stairs at
approximately 18 miles per hour. This townhouse was only 33 feet deep,
which meant that the gases moved through the townhouse in less than two
seconds. One firefighter was in the direct path of this fast-moving
body of super-heated air.
Another fire fighter was found near a wall. Based on the simulations,
investigators believe that when the heat came blasting up the stairway,
it encountered the wall, which served as a barrier and caused the heat
to immediately move downward to where the firefighter was located.
As to why other firefighters were able to escape with only minor burns,
Madrzykowski likened the interior conditions to that of a hair dryer.
“The basement door acted as a high-velocity nozzle, but if you were
off to the side, you were not in the direct path of the hot gas. Like a
hairdryer, if you place your finger in front of it, your finger is hot,
but if you move your finger an inch or two to the side, you’ll feel
no heat.” This is why firefighters that were within just a few feet
of the victims were able to feel the heat, yet still survive.
While the current model provides invaluable assistance, it has
limitations, concedes Madrzykowski. It takes a certain level of
expertise and knowledge, as well as a high-end PC to run the FDS. But
as NIST continues to refine and further develop the program,
Madrzykowski is hoping that they will be able to provide a tool that
any firefighter can use on a desktop PC.
Another limiting factor (in the model) is the materials database. Not
every material involved in a fire scene has been input into the
materials database. NIST is continuing to input that data into the
model.
“The science is fairly young,” he continues, “but a lot of
progress has been made in the past generation. However, there has not
been a lot of technology transfer…it needs to get out to the fire
service.”
It’s not yet available to assist in every LODD, but the FDS simulator
is being used to assist in investigations of a high-rise fire in New
York City that killed three firefighters and a lightweight wood-truss
roof structure fire at a fast-food restaurant in Houston that killed
two firefighters.
TRAINING APPLICATIONS
Investigating these real-world LODDS in a variety of different
scenarios is helping NIST to lay the foundation for training
applications in the future. Madrzykowski hopes the FDS will soon evolve
into a tool that any firefighter can use on a desktop PC.
The long-range goal is to develop a desktop simulator that can be made
available to fire departments across the nation. Unlike other
“games,” this one will be based on real-incidents and will abide by
the laws of physics.
“Its value is to use it as a training tool,” he says. “The one
thing that we hear from firefighters is that they are getting less and
less on-the-job live-fire training because there are fewer fires and
fewer training opportunities.”
Gearheart reinforced this point. “If NIST continues to get the
funding they need to make it user-friendly…they are working in that
direction, they just haven’t gotten to it yet. We hope that this
incident helps to push it in that direction. As a training tool, it
would be invaluable.”
COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
With the sponsorship of the U.S. Fire Administration, NIST is inputting
data on the thermal properties of various materials used in firefighter
turnout gear into FDS. Once that data in incorporated into the model,
it can be used to assess the effectiveness of firefighter PPE.
“You will be able to assemble an ensemble using various materials
such as Nomex or PBI, and then place this ‘target’ inside of the
scenario,” says Madrzykowski. The user will then be able to evaluate
the impact upon a firefighter when opening a particular window or door
at a given time in the fire changes the environment. Madrzykowski is
hoping that this will be available within several months.
Other plans include incorporating the physical properties of various
hose streams into the FDS model, enabling users to evaluate the
effectiveness of straight-stream versus fog nozzles, or see what impact
compressed air foam might have on fire. “This is at least five years
away,” says Madrzykowski.
One day in the not too distant future, he says, “The firefighter will
be able to draw on a catalog of situations and see the impact of
specific actions—like opening a door or ventilating the roof. “This
will allow the user to see the impact in real time on various
scenarios. By doing this on the desktop, it will hopefully become an
ingrained response on the fireground when they are faced with a similar
situation.”
FDS may facilitate better communications with firefighters as well. By
using its animations, trainers may be able to demonstrate the concepts
of heat flow and the other conditions encountered during firefighting
that could only be previously demonstrated by equations and charts and
graphs--not the most user-friendly method.
Madrzykowski notes this improved communication goes both ways.
Scientists and engineers involved with FDS development are learning
more from firefighters about the “real world” of firefighting than
they ever could from inside a lab.
Copies of the FDS CD Rom of the Cherry Road Simulation can be obtained
by contacting Madrzykowski at madrzy@nist.gov
with your name and address.
You can download the full report on the Cherry Road simulation by
clicking on this link: http://fire.nist.gov/6510/
You can also contact NIST for
more information regarding Simulation of the Dynamics of the Fire at
3146 Cherry Road NE, Washington D.C., May 30, 1999 (Reference NISTIR
6510).
Links
Author Biography
Ed Comeau is the principal writer for writer-tech.com, llc (www.writer-tech.com)
a technical writing firm. He is the former chief fire investigator for
the National Fire Protection Association, where he conducted several
firefighter fatality investigations, including one with the District of
Columbia Fire and Emergency Services. He was a fire protection engineer
for the Phoenix Fire Department, a firefighter for the Amherst (MA)
Fire Department and holds a degree in civil engineering from the
University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He can be reached at ecomeau@writer-tech.com.
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