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A fire burning in a forest

Fire

Fire testing may have started some 2.5 million years ago when one of our ancestors stuck his hand into the first flame and “scientifically” determined that the temperature was too hot to bear. Since that primitive beginning, humans have been on an unending quest to understand, measure and exploit the behavior of fire—and most importantly, to improve our ability to protect life and property from its ravages. Fire testing at NIST, a staple of the agency’s research since the early 1900s, has helped provide much of the data, insights and knowledge demanded by that pursuit. Research has run covered everything from fire safety engineering and fire fighting to fire investigation and fire testing to fire data management and intentional burning.

Key Accomplishments

  • Fire reconstructions: NIST thoroughly investigates some of the country’s most unique and devastating wildland-urban interface (WUI) and building fires, such as the Charleston Sofa Super Store fire. By studying and reconstructing the behavior and timeline of these fires in detail, NIST makes recommendations, some of which have led to improved codes and standards related to fuel load, sprinklers, egress and other fire safety considerations. 
  • Materials flammability: From building materials on the WUI to furniture in the common home, NIST devises test methods and mitigation strategies for reducing the flammability of numerous materials. NIST’s research in this area has bolstered state and federal standards and, in the case of mattress flammability, had a measurable lifesaving impact
  • Fire modeling: NIST developed and continues to update advanced fire modeling software capable of digitally recreating complex fire and smoke behaviors. These free tools have played key roles in cracking forensic cases of residential and industrial fires and supporting studies on and the design of fire protection systems.  
  • Smoke detection: For decades, NIST has rigorously tested smoke alarms and detectors, like those used in many homes (and in space), to raise the bar for their performance. NIST’s work in this area laid the groundwork for several standards for the sensitivity and installation of these vital technologies.

The Research

Projects & Programs

Safety of Building Occupants Project

Ongoing
Objective: By 2016 1, to develop the framework for a model that will predict the evacuation decision-making of occupants in a building fire. This model will improve the accuracy of egress modeling tools used in performance-based design (PBD) of buildings. What is the new technical idea? To develop a

WUI Building and Fire Codes and Standards Project

Completed
Objective: By 2014, assess and integrate the current state-of-the-art risk reduction tools and practices into model building codes and standards for fires at the wildland-urban interface. What is the new technical idea? The new technical idea is to develop a national codes and standards strategy

Design Fires for Structures Project

Ongoing
Objective: By 2016 to develop (1) the measurement science to fully characterize, deliver, and measure repeatable structurally significant fires for use in large-scale structural fire experiments and (2) a performance-based design framework linking fire intensity measures with expected structural

Fire Risk Reduction in Communities Program

Ongoing
Objective: To develop and deploy advances in measurement science to improve the resilience of communities and structures to unwanted fires through innovative fire protection and response technologies and tactics. What is the new technical idea? There are two new technical ideas, using measurement

Additional Resources Links

News

Knocking Down Fences for Fire Research

Wildfires don’t stop where the wilderness ends. They burn through communities and neighborhoods, destroying property and taking lives. In 2018, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection alone reported 7,948 wildfire incidents, burning almost 2 million acres across the state and resulting in 100 confirmed fatalities and 24,226 structures damaged or destroyed. NIST researchers are at

John W. Lyons, Who Led NIST in Times of Great Change, Dies at 93

Staff Spotlight - Dr. Ankit Sharma

Wear and Tear May Cause Firefighter Gear to Release More ‘Forever Chemicals’

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