EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON THE VULNERABILITIES OF DECKING ASSEMBLIES ATTACKED BY FIREBRAND SHOWERS

Published

May 16, 2016

Author(s)

Samuel L. Manzello, Sayaka Suzuki, Ichiro Hagiwara

Abstract

In WUI fires, decking assemblies have been observed to be an ignition vulnerability based on post-fire damage surveys conducted by NIST and elsewhere. Recently, the use of decking assemblies has also become more popular in Japan. The Office of the State Fire Marshall (OFSM) in California adopted the test method known as State Fire Marshall (SFM) STANDARD 12-7A-4 [2]. The SFM test method is intended to determine the response of decks to firebrand exposure and is similar to ASTM E2726 [3]. Both of those test methods are merely extensions of ASTM E108 Roof test [4]. Namely, a firebrand is simulated by placing a burning wood crib on top of a section of a decking assembly under an air flow. The dynamic process of multiple firebrands bombarding decking materials as a function of time is not taken into account in this standard. Based on firebrand attack from real WUI fires, it is expected that multiple firebrands would accumulate within gaps/crevices of decking materials. In addition to not simulating a dynamic firebrand attack, no attempt is made to relate the size and mass of the firebrand used in this standard to actual firebrands

Proceedings Title

Proceedings of the Annual Symposium of the Japan Association for Fire Science and Engineering

Conference Dates

May 16-17, 2016

Conference Location

Nagaoka

Pub Type

Conferences

Keywords

WUI Fires, Urban Fires, Decking

Citation

Manzello, S. , Suzuki, S. and Hagiwara, I. (2016), EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON THE VULNERABILITIES OF DECKING ASSEMBLIES ATTACKED BY FIREBRAND SHOWERS, Proceedings of the Annual Symposium of the Japan Association for Fire Science and Engineering, Nagaoka, -1 (Accessed March 13, 2025)