The products of combustion in burning buildings

Abstract

Abstract The variations in the state of the atmosphere during a fire have been investigated in the course of tests in which two full‐scale houses were completely burnt out. The analysis of the atmosphere (in rooms remote from the point of origin of the fire) showed that, in the early stages of the fire, the combustion of the wood and other cellulosic constituents of the house and furnishings was practically complete; in the later stages, however, the oxygen supply was inadequate and resulted in the appearance of the products of destructive distillation and the smoke‐logging of the room. Because of such variations in the atmosphere with time it is difficult to determine from laboratory‐scale experiments the probable composition of the atmosphere in burning buildings.