| The threat of fire is a constant danger to life and property throughout the world – requiring extensive investment in research to improve building design and materials, fire fighting prevention tools and techniques, and public awareness of emergency preparedness and response.
The devastation of the September 11th, 2001 World Trade Center tower fires has accelerated the need to learn more about how large buildings burn, and how such fires can be prevented in the future.
The following are links to important recent reports related to tall building fire safety, communication and data cabling and related research:
- In this joint report, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), and the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), study the effects of fires involving communications cable in plenum spaces. Through surveys of North American office buildings, the authors determine the types and quantities of cable in return air plenums. They develop several fire scenarios that could potentially ignite these cables and perform fire tests at three scales (small, medium and full). The results indicate that CMP plenum cables exposed to fire can pose an increased hazard to building occupants because of dangerous increases in smoke production that can limit visibility, increased CO concentrations, and the release of harmful irritant gases, all of which hinder the evacuation of occupants.
- In October, 2004, the Building and Fire Research Laboratory of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) within the Department of Commerce released an interim report on the collapse of the World Trade Center towers. A final report will be released mid-2005. Click here to read the October 2004 NIST Interim Report (PDF - 3.83 MB). Click here to review the most recent NIST Response to the World Trade Center Disaster, April 5, 2005.
- The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) issued a report in October 2004 “to provide recommendations for the requirements and test methods to be specified for the fire performance of communication cables when installed in buildings.” Click here to read the IEC report: Fire Performance of Communication Cables Installed in Buildings (PDF - 202 KB).
Click here for links to archival fire safety research reports.
Click here for links to fire safety research institutions.
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