Presenter: Thomas Fabian

The session will discuss smoke alarm response to ventilation-limited flashover fires, smoldering and flaming fires originating from upholstered furniture and bedding, and kitchen cooking fires in a traditional, single-story ranch house and a contemporary, two-story, open floor plan house. Commercially available UL 217 compliant smoke alarms (conventional ionization and photoelectric, ionization-photoelectric, ionization-carbon monoxide, photoelectric- carbon monoxide, and advanced algorithm ionization) were spaced throughout houses following NFPA 72®, National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code, guidelines. Smoke obscuration, gas concentrations, and temperatures along the path of occupant egress were characterized to assess occupant tenability. Required Safe Egress Times (RSETs) for occupants located in and remote from the room of fire origin were compared to Available Safe Egress Times (ASETs) calculated for the various alarm activation times in the different fire scenarios.