A study on the fire extinguishing characteristics of deep-seated fires using the scale model experiment

NFPA 18 is used as a standard for the performance evaluation of wetting agents used in fire fighting. The performance evaluation of the wetting agent involves three tests: a wood crib fire test, a deep-seated fire test, and a wood fiberboard penetration test. In this study, a scale model experimental device, which can evaluate both extinguishing performance and penetration performance at once, was prepared to evaluate the performance of a wetting agent in various types of porous materials. Then, this result was compared with the results of an NFPA 18 test to validate the result of the novel test. Three types of commercial fire-fighting solutions and water were used as extinguishing agents in the experiment. The experimental materials used in this performance evaluation were wood crib which is used in the existing class A fire test and wood flour from New Zealand pine trees which has 75% of the domestic market share in wood cribs. The discrimination of the study result used in this study to determine penetration and extinguishing performances was found to be equivalent to the results of the NFPA18 test. Moreover, the study established the validity of the scale model that could check on both penetration and extinguishing performance, permitting a more economical and efficient performance evaluation of wetting agents.