DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING A SHORT COURSE Fire and Explosion Investigations May 11-13, 2005 Room 5050 - Minto Building Carleton University 1125 Colonel By Drive Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 5B6 The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of Carleton University in collaboration with Forintek Canada Corp., the National Research Council, the Ontario Fire Marshal s Office, the National Fire Protection Association and the Canadian Explosives Laboratory is pleased to announce a 3-day short course on Fire and Explosion Investigations May 11-13, 2005. Who should attend The course is intended for fire investigators, as well as fire safety practitioners interested in gaining or reinforcing their knowledge of fire safety principles and their application to fire investigations. In addition, the course will be of great benefit to building officials, fire safety officers, building science practitioners, fire prevention officers and students in fire safety programs. Course description The topic of this Short Course is Fire and Explosions Investigations. The course covers topics in fire science necessary to conduct fire and explosion investigations, such as fire ignition, flame spread, flammability and materials reaction to fire. In addition the course covers two of the most common models used for fire recreations, CFAST and FDS. Both of these models are available from NIST and have already been proven extremely useful in assisting fire investigators to test their theories of cause and origin, and fire development. The last day of the course is reserved for case studies that demonstrate how to conduct fire and explosion investigations through numerous examples.
Timetable Wednesday May 11, 2005 Time Topic Instructor 9:00 Welcome and Introductions 9:30 Fire Statistics This lecture will provide a description of statistical data related to fire incidents in Canada. A detailed description will be given of Ontario fire incident data which have been analysed to determine the main areas of origin and causes of fires in various occupancies. Hadjisophocleous 10:30 Break 11:00 Ignition of the first item This lecture will describe the basic fire science associated with the flaming ignition of vapour-air mixtures (e.g. flammability limits), of liquids (e.g. flashpoints) and solids (e.g. ignition temperatures and critical heat fluxes). It will also address self-heating and spontaneous ignition of smouldering combustion in porous solid fuels. Mehaffey 12:30 Lunch 1:30 Flame spread, ignition of the second item This lecture will describe the basic fire science associated with the growth of fire following ignition as a result of flame spread over combustible surfaces and as a result of the radiant ignition of nearby objects. Characteristic burning patterns will also be considered. Mehaffey 3:00 Break 3:30 Flammability of materials This lecture will illustrate the burning characteristics of simple and composite fuel packages with organic and non-organic materials. It will also show the differences in fire growth and smoke production rates based on the types of combustible materials and the ignition sources. Zalok 5:00 Adjournment
Thursday May 12, 2005 Time Topic Instructor 9:00 Response of materials exposed to fire This lecture will discuss the physical and chemical responses of materials exposed to fire. Materials considered will include concrete, brick, gypsum, steel, aluminium, wood, glass, plastics and insulation. Some discussion of the response of assemblies (composed of such materials) will also be provided. Craft, Mehaffey 10:30 Break 11:00 Fire Modelling I This lecture will cover the theory behind two-zone models used for fire and smoke movement modelling and provide a number of examples of the application of these models. The two-zone computer model CFAST available from NIST will be described and used for demonstrations. Hadjisophocleous 12:30 Lunch 1:30 Fire Modelling II This lecture will describe briefly the theoretical basis of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) models and provide details on the use of these models. Specific emphasis will be given to the CFD model FDS available from NIST. The FDS model will be described in detail together with the input data required to use the model. Some examples of the application of FDS to fire investigations will be provided. Hadjisophocleous 3:00 Break 3:30 Explosives and their application Explosives are often overlooked as sources of energy for useful work in the evolution of societies. This presentation will introduce the basic theory of chemical explosives, their output, the factors affecting their output, and their practical and destructive applications. Contestabile 5:00 Adjournment
Friday May 13, 2005 Time Topic Instructor 9:00 Fire Investigation and Occupant Behaviour Ethical considerations, pit-falls and techniques used to obtain information from occupants who survived a fire will be discussed. Five fires will be reviewed where investigation into the occupants behaviour were conducted by the speaker. The five case studies discussed will be the Forest Laneway Fire in Toronto, the Ambleside Fire in Ottawa, the Cook County Administration Building Fire in Chicago and the World Trade Center bombing of 1993 and the 2001 terrorist attack. 10:30 Break 11:00 12:30 Lunch 1:30 3:00 Break 3:30 Explosion Investigations This presentation will deal with typical investigations and methodologies used to perform blast risk assessments and accident investigations. Tools available in the open literature for predicting blast effects will be discussed and examples will be presented. Fire Investigation Case Studies This lecture will provide an overview of the role of the Ontario Fire Marshal s Office (OFM) Fire Investigation and Evaluation Section. It will highlight the relationship between the OFM and fire and police services and other stakeholders regarding the investigation of fatal fires, explosions, incendiary fires and large loss fires. The presentation will include case examples of the aforementioned fire types and will illustrate some of the technical, forensic and legal challenges faced by OFM investigators in their effort to conduct comprehensive investigations into the origin, cause and circumstances of fire. NFPA Fire Investigations Program This program will outline the Fire Investigation program at the NFPA and will discuss some of the major incidents which they have covered in recent years. The Fire Investigations Unit has been a part of the NFPA s mission since it s inception in 1896. The function of the unit is to review and analyze the contributing factors and the lessons learned from significant incidents around the world. Some of the major events that will be discussed are multiple fire fighter fatality incidents, a grain elevator explosion, a shipboard fire and the World Trade Center collapse in 2001 among many others. Proulx Contestabile Williams Duval 4:30 Adjournment
The Instructors Ettore Contestabile, Canadian Explosives Research Laboratory Mr. Contestabile is an Adjunct Professor in the Dept of Civil and Environmental Eng of CU and is Head of the Explosives Applications Group at the Canadian Explosives Research Laboratory. He has done research in the behaviour of energetic materials, response of materials to blast loads, including incendiary and shrapnel effects, blast mitigation, and accident investigation. Mr. Contestabile is an editor of the Journal of Pyrotechnics and President of the International Symposium on Fireworks (ISF) Society. He is a member of NFPA 160, Standard for Flame Effects before an Audience, NFPA 1123, Outdoor Display of Fireworks, NFPA 1124, Code for the Manufacture, Transportation, Storage, and Retail Sales of Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles, NFPA 1126, Standard for the Use of Pyrotechnics before a Proximate Audience. Steve Craft, Carleton University Mr. Craft is a doctoral candidate in Fire Safety Engineering at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Forest Engineering and has received two post graduate awards from National Science and Engineering Research Council. He is currently studying the material response of wood and gypsum board exposed to fire and the overall impact on light frame wood floor assemblies In doing so, he is developing a computer model to simulate heat and mass transfer through the assembly. Mr. Craft is a SFPE member as well as a registered EIT. Robert F. Duval, Senior Fire Investigator/New England Regional Manager, NFPA Mr. Duval is the Senior Fire Investigator for the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association), which is based in Quincy, Massachusetts. He is responsible for conducting investigations of technically significant incidents in order to gather lessons learned from each incident and to apply those lessons to improving NFPA codes and standards. The investigation of these incidents includes documenting the emergency services response, the structure(s) involved as well as the events leading up to and following the incident. Robert has conducted investigations into several recent incidents including: fire fighter fatalities in Albert City Iowa; Lake Worth, Texas; Marks, Mississippi; New York City; Phoenix, Arizona; Keokuk, Iowa; and Coos Bay, Oregon, as well as a cruise ship fire in Miami, Florida, a grain elevator explosion in Kansas and a bulk retail warehouse in Phoenix, AZ, among others. George Hadjisophocleous, Ph.D., P.Eng. Carleton University Dr. George Hadjisophocleous is a Professor at Carleton University and holder of the Industrial Research Chair in Fire Safety Engineering. Prior to this appointment he was a Senior Research Officer and Group Leader at the Fire Risk Management Program of the National Research Council of Canada. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of New Brunswick and he is the author of over 150 publications in the areas of fire research, fire risk assessment, performance-based codes and CFD modelling. His research areas include fire risk analysis, and fire and smoke movement modelling using CFD and zone models. Dr. Hadjisophocleous is a member of SFPE, NFPA, IAFSS, ASHRAE, CIB W14 and a Registered Professional Engineer in the province of Ontario.
Jim Mehaffey, Ph.D., Forintek Canada Corp. From 1980 to 1987, Dr. Jim Mehaffey was a research scientist at the National Research Council where he developed models to predict the growth and severity of building fires. Since 1988, he has been a research scientist with Forintek Canada Corp. where he is modelling the performance of wood-frame assemblies exposed to fire. From 1993 to 1997, he was seconded to the University of British Columbia where he was Director and Associate Professor in UBC s Fire Protection Engineering Program. He holds a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Toronto and is the author of over 80 scientific publications. Dr. Mehaffey is a member of SFPE and IAFSS, and represents Canada in ISO/TC92/SC4. Guylène Proulx, Ph.D., National Research Council Dr. Guylène Proulx is a Senior Researcher in the Fire Research Program of the National Research Council of Canada since 1992. She holds a Ph.D. in Architectural Planning from the University of Montreal specializing in environmental psychology. She focuses her research on investigating human response to alarms, evacuation movement, typical actions taken, timing of escape, and social interaction during a fire. She has been selected on the NIST Expert Team into the World Trade Center Investigation to leadi the research on the occupant response and evacuation on September 11, 2001. Dr. Proulx is a member of; the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) and the International Association for Fire Safety Science (IAFSS). She is also a member of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE) and Past President of the National Capital Region Chapter of the SFPE. She is an Adjunct Research Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Carleton University, Ottawa, and an Adjunct Associate Professor of Fire Protection Engineering at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, MA, USA Chris Williams, Ontario Fire Marshal s Office Chris Williams graduated in 1986 from the University of Guelph with a B.Sc., Earth Science Specialization. He joined the Ministry of the Environment in fall 1986 as a Provincial Officer assigned to regulate the generation, transportation and disposal of hazardous and liquid industrial waste. Based upon acquired specialization in industrial processes and hazardous waste management, he joined the Investigation and Enforcement Branch of the Ministry of the Environment in 1989 as part of a Task Force specializing in the investigation of hazardous waste violations. He has worked across the province and with counterparts in Michigan, New York and Ohio. He came to the OFM as a Fire Investigator in 1997 working primarily in the Greater Toronto Area. He has conducted over 300 fire investigations including 81 fatal fires, 153 incendiary fires and 26 explosions. Chris joined the Fire Investigation and Evaluation Section in 2004 as a Fire Investigation Specialist. Currently he is involved in the coordination of major fire occurrences including phase II and phase III fires where factors beyond origin and cause have impacted on life safety. He is also involved with the development of internal fire investigation training and investigative policies and procedures. Ehab Zalok, Carleton University Mr. Zalok is a doctoral candidate in Fire Safety Engineering at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. He holds a Masters of Science degree in Structural Engineering, and a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering. He conducted a substantial survey of fire load densities and types of combustibles in commercial buildings and has developed fuel packages representative of these buildings. These packages are to develop and characterize design fires for commercial buildings. He is currently studying the behaviour of fires in enclosures, flammability of materials and composite fuel packages, using full-scale tests and computer modelling. Mr. Zalok is a member of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE).
A Short Course - Engineered Fire Safety Systems Course Registration Form Name: Title: Organization: Address: City: Province/State Postal code: Phone number:_( ) Fax number: ( ) Email: Regular registration fee: $364.50 + GST $25.50 Total: $390.00 Full-time student registration fee: $93.46 + GST $6.54 Total: $100.00 Course Dinner, May 12, 2005 (Optional): $60.00 Total payment: $ Enclosed is a cheque for the registration fee Please make cheques payable to Carleton University Charge the registration fee to my credit card MasterCard Visa Name shown on card: Card number: Card Expiry date: Signature: All registrations should be sent to the following address: Fire Safety Engineering Short Course Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Room 3432 ME Carleton University 1125 Colonel By Drive Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 5B6 Fax number: (613) 520-3951