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Engineering Laboratory /Fire Research Division

Flammability Reduction Group

The Flammability Reduction Group develops, advances, and deploys measurement science to reduce fire hazard of building contents and construction materials. Carries out mission-related measurement science research and services to reduce material ignition probability, fire growth and spread, and environmental impacts; and develop codes and standards for cost-effective, fire-safe building contents and construction materials.

Two firefighters look over the last flames inside a compartment where the flammability of cross-laminated timber buildings is being tested.
New NIST Roadmap Charts Path to Reduced Fire Hazards from Materials
Barrier Fabric Compartment Flashover
Low Heat Release Upholstered Furniture
A box of cigarettes is labeled: Standard Cigarette for Ignition Resistance Testing.
NIST Releases a New Standard Cigarette for Testing the Flammability of Mattresses and Furniture

Staff Spotlight

January 26, 2021
The Flammability Reduction Group within the Fire Research Division (FRD) welcomes Dr. Andrew Maizel and Mr. Mike Heck as Professional Research Experience Program (PREP) researchers.
 

HIGHLIGHT

FRG_SFPESeries_Thumbnail

Flammability Reduction Group provides virtual seminar on Reducing the Fire Risk of Residential Upholstered Furniture Fires as part of SFPE Member Series

May 24, 2021

On May 24 at 11 AM EST, Dr. Mauro Zammarano delivered a virtual seminar highlighting key outcomes of the Low Heat Release Upholstered Furniture Project…
  >>READ MORE

News and Updates

RShields

Remembering Randy Shields

John “Randy” Shields, a physical scientist in the Flammability Reduction Group of EL’s Fire Research Division, died suddenly of a heart attack on June 27, 2020
A woman wearing safety goggles (Laura Dubrulle) hold a stack of square wood samples in a scientific lab.

Spotlight: Laura Dubrulle

Closing down a highway of fire: NIST guest researcher Laura Dubrulle wants to keep your fence from going up in flames and taking your home with it. With small
interflam_icon

Interflam 2019

Six members of the NIST Fire Research Division (including three current or former members of the Flammability Reduction Group) recently traveled to the Royal

Projects and Programs

epoxy with an intumescent fire retardant

Engineered Fire Safe Products

Ongoing
This project will conduct research to support the use of lightweight (wood, plastics, and composites)-engineered fire safe products (L-EFSP) with long fire

Low Heat Release Upholstered Furniture

Ongoing
To reduce the flammability of residential upholstered furniture (RUF), the fire safety community has developed test methods and mitigation strategies based on
View All Projects/Programs

Publications

Estimating the Impact of 16 CFR Part 1633 on Bed Fire Outcomes

Author(s)
Stanley W. Gilbert, David T. Butry, Richard G. Gann, Rick D. Davis
Effective July 1, 2007, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission promulgated a Standard that would severely reduce the heat release rate and the early heat
View All Publications

Software

CFAST

CFAST

The Consolidated Model of Fire and Smoke Transport, CFAST, is a computer program that fire investigators, safety officials, engineers, architects and builders

FDS and Smokeview

Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) is a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of fire-driven fluid flow. The software solves numerically a form of the Navier
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Tools and Instruments

Cone Calorimeter

Cone Calorimeter

In the late 1970s and early 1980s the fire community was pushing for reliable bench-scale tools to measure material flammability based on heat release rate. A

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