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Observations During a Fire at Zwolle Lie, T. T.; Van Sante, F. J.
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TT·935 TT·935
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF CANADA
J
TECHNICAL TRANSLATION 935OBSERVATIONS DURING A FIRE AT ZWOLLE
BY
T. T. LIE AND F.J. VAN SANTE
FROM
BOUW. 15 (6): 154·160. 1960
TRANSLATED BY
H. A. G. NATHAN
THIS IS THE SEVENTY· SEVENTH OF THE SERIES OF TRANSLATIONS
PREPARED FOR THE DIVISION OF BUILDING RESEARCH
OTTAWA
PREFACE
Opportunities to carry out experimental burns on full-scale buildings do not arise frequently although they prove invaluable to the scientist in giving him a true perspective of the nature of fire in buildings.
The Fire Section of the Division of Bu1lding Research, National Research Council, has been particularly interested in the work described in this report, s1nce it has been able to compare the conduct of the operation with the St. Lawrence burns, the one occasion in its history when it was able to take advantage or a s1milar opportunity to burn bUildings. The paper was translated by Mr. H.A.G. Nathan, or the Translations Section of the National Research Council Library, to whom the Division of Building Research wishes to record its thanks.
Ottawa,
February 1961
R.F. Legget, Director
Techn1cal Translation 935
T1tle: Observat1ons dur1ng a f1re at Zwolle
(Waarnem1ngen b1J een brand te Zwolle)
Authors: T.T. L1e and F.J. van Sante
Reference: Bouw, 15 (6): 154-160, 1960
OBSERVATIONS DURING A FIRE ｾｔ ZWOLLE
I. Introduction
On April 28, 1959, the Strick van Linschoten Fund, named after Mayor Jonkheer G.A. Strick van Linschoten, was set up in Zwolle for large-3cale SlUM clearance and reconstruction in the municipality. Money collected from the inhaoitants of Zwolle was to be used for
de-fraying the expenses of reconstruction.
In order to publicize the establishment of the fund and to start the slum clearance off in a spectacular way, it was decided that
three houses that had been declared uninhabitable should be set on fire on the day the fund Nas inaugurated.
When the plans for this became known, D.R.A. van Langen, Chief Inspector of the Fire Service Department, asked permission of
Engineer S. van der Wal, Director of Public Works and Chief of the Fire Service in Zwolle, to make observations on the progress of this fire and the temperatures resulting from it.
Engineer van der Wal promised the full support of both the Public Works Department and the Fire Service Department.
The Brandveiligheidsinstituut T.N.O. (Fire Hazards Institute) and the Ratiobcuw Foundation were asked to cooperate with a view to obtaining as many data as possible.
In whet follows a report is given on the preparations for and the development of the fire as well as on the results obtained. II. Description of the ｈｯｵｾ･ｳ ｩｾｵ･ｳｴｩｯｮ
As 1s evident from Fig. 1 the houses in question were located at the corner of Akkerstraat and Kleine Grachtje in Zwolle and
comprised three adjOining builjings which had all been declared
un-inhabitable. The ｾｾｾｰ･ｲｴｹ at the corner of the two streets mentioned
was a shop ｡ｾ､ the two other properties were dwellings (Fig. 2).
The front and back facades of this block of houses were still
•
The side wall of the shop was stll1 undamaged but most of the slde wall of the dwelling on the extreme right had collapsed.
The shop had e flat tiled roof with a very steep slope at the
front and side facades. The two dwellings also had a flat roof over
•
the front part. The sparred roof of round wood over the rear part
(Fig. 3) had a slope of approximately 45 degrees. Most of its
orlginal covering had disappeared.
As can be clearly seen from the photographs, the dwellings were in a state of advanced decay.
Because of the danger to the dwellings on the opposite side of
Akkerstraat ｾｮ､ in view of the serious state of decay of the dwelling
on the extreme right (cf. Fig. 2), it was decided to set only the centre dwelling on fire and to measure the temperatures as well as to make other observations in this dwelling only.
III. More Detailed Description of the Centre Dwelling
The ground plan and cross-section of the centre dwelling are shown in Fig. 1 along with the disposition of the bUilding and the dimensions.
In all the ｲｯｯｾｳ the floors were of wood on wood jOists, except
for the passage and the ｫｩｾ｣ｨ･ｮＬ wher8, the floors were of rammed
concrete. The ceiling of the front room on the ground floor was of
plastering reed.
Plywood ceilings had been attached to wood joists in the back
room, passage and kitchen. The bottom of the stairs was not
en-closed.
On the second floor no ceiling was attached to the loft joists.
The underside of the raftered roof was sheathed with wood. The
parapet of the loft was of wood. Bearing wall end ｦ｡ｾ｡､･ had been
built of whole bricks. The partition between the back room,
passage and kitchen on the ground floor was of Rhenish bricks. The other partitions were of brick (half bats).
Of all the doors only the front door (flat veneer) and the
passage door to the front room were left. The rooms on the ground
-5-had been applied directly to the walls in some rooms and to frames With jute backing in the others.
IV. Preparations Carried Out on the Centre ｄｷ･ｬｬｾｮｧ
In the state described above (i.e., without window panes, doors and furniture) the centre dwelling would certainly not provide any
useful data for the t.nve atn gatn on , Therefore, steps were taken in
order to approximate the state of a normal dwelling to the greatest extent possible.
For this purpose, the Ｇｾｩｮ､ｯｷ frames of the front facade were
•
refitted with glass panes while the frames at the back and the d.ormer
windows were boarded up. On the second floor curtains were put up
at the windows. The large door frame between the front room and the
back room on the ground floor was boarded up with plywood. The
other door frames which were without doors were also boarded up. Fibreboard was nailed on to the section of the sloping roof
where the tiles were missing. In order to simulate the missing
furniture, wood (shelves, Slats, etc.) was piled up in the front and
back rooms of the ground floor (250 and 150 kg, ｲｾｳｰ･｣ｴｩｶ･ｬｹＩ and in
the front and back rooms of the second floor (200 and 150 kg, respectively).
V. Installation of the Measuring Apparatus
In order to record the temperatures during the fire,
thermo-couples were placed at different points in the house. The
thermo-couples were connected to a self-recording measuring instrument. The latter was mounted on the ground at the back of the dwelling.
The positions of the thermocouples are marked by XiS in Fig. 4.
In addition two pyrometers were installed at a pOint
approxi-mately 1.75 m from the front facade opposite the centre of the
•
windows on the ground floor. Each pyrometer was fastened to a pole.
In order to make observations on the progress of the fire, ob-servers from the Inspection Board for the Fire Fighting Service were
present at the front and back of the house during the fire. At the
SAme time many photographs were taken.
VI. The Progress of the Fire
The fire was started by means of electric filaments, which had
been placed in the wood piled up in the front room. Gasoline had
been poured on the pile just before it was ignited. After
approxi-mately five minutes a fairly violent explosion took place, wrecking
the window pane of the front room. This was immediately followed
by a fierce blaze. The further progress of the fire is described in
the report below.
VII. Temperature Variation and Rad1ation from the Windows
The variation of the temperature during the fire at the differ-ent points of measuremdiffer-ent has been plotted on Graphs 1 to 5,
inclusive.
Fig. 1 - 5 give the respective temperature cur-ve's for the
following loc8tions: Fig. 1 - the front room on the ground floor,
Fig. 2 - back room on the ground floor, Fig. 3 and 4 - front and
back rooms on the second floor, Fig. 5 - kitchen and passage.
During the fire thermocouples no.
12
and no. 13, which had bothbeen placed in the passage, broke down.
The radiation from the window of the front room on the ground
floor {measured during the firej has been plotted in Fig. 6. The
mean temperature near the window area (deduced from the measured radia.tion) and the temperatures measured at the centre of this room
and towards its back wall have also been plotted in Graph 6. No
data were obtained on the radiation in the room above because the instrument for measuring the radiation from this room failed.
-7-VIII. Discussion of Results
(8) Variation of temperature
From investigations of temperature variations during fires, in, for example, England, Russia and Japan, a temperature curve in which
two periods can be ､ｩｳｴｩｮｾｬｩｳｨ･､ was obtained.
Such a temperature curve, which is characteristic of a fire, has been plotted in Graph 7.
The first period represents the development of a local fire due to the firing of an entire room by sudden ignition of the combustible
gase s generated in i.t (i. e , , the ao-cca l.Led flashover). During this
period the temperature in the room usually is relatively low and the
damage caused so far is slight. Among the factors determining the
length of this period are the time taken ｾｯｲ the first materials to
begin to burn and the amount of heat thus released in the r.oom per vnit time.
In the present case, wood over which gasooine had been poured
was Ret on fire. Since combustible vapours had thus been present
from the beginning, flashover occurred almost simultaneously with the ignition of the gasoline and no period of development was
meas-ured, as can be seen from Graph 1. ｔｨｾ very rapid progress of the
flames at the back of the house (after 2 minutes, cf. Fig. 7) also points to the presence of gasoline vapours.
The second period is the time between flashover and the
attain-ing of the maximum temperature. ｾｬｾ length of this period and the
temperature attained are important for adjacent rooms and buildings and depend on the amount of combustible material present per area of the room, i.e., the so-called fire load, among other factors.
During the fire ｾ･ｳ｣ｲｬ｢･､ here the fire load in the front room on
the ground floor was 25 kg/m2•
On the strength of the internationally accepted relationship between fire load and duration of a fire (55 kg of wood per hr) and that between the duration of a fire and the temperature (i.e., the stendard tire curve as' defined in NEN 1076), the fire in the front room may be expectec:. to l8.st approximately half an hour and the
maximum temperature should be 840°C. The fire lasted slightly
longer than 20 minutes while the temperatures attained on the aver-age
(cf. Graph 1) ｾｲ･ considerably higher than those according to the
standard fire curve. Although these differences definitely are due
for the most part to the quantity of gaso.li ne , which was actually too large, and the instantaneous flashover, it is probable that other factors than type and amount of combustible material may have
an importent effect on the progress of a fire. These are size and
shape of the room, heet losses through \'lindows and we.lls and the disposition of the combustible meterial.
(b) Fire-resistant ceiling and floor_constructions
Observations (of flashover) on the ceiling and floor construc-tion between the two front rooms showed thRt the resistance to fire
lasted 17 minutes. No conclusive statement can be made as to
whether the front room on the second floor was set on fire as the result of flashover through the floor or through the passage and
back room. The sudden rise in temperature from 500°C after 10 min
to 1,OOOoC after 14 min (Graph 5), i.e., before flames were noticed
on the floor construction, 1.ndicates t.hat the room was set on fire
through the passage and back room. ｉｾ this case the flame spread
through the passage door, passage, stairs, back room on the second
floor and p'Lyvrood partition be tween front and back room took less
time than the flame spread through ce ili:ng, plastering reed and the wood floor.
A fire resistance of 29 min was obtained from a laboratory test
in which a ceiling and floor construction of this t ype was SUbjected
to heating, using the standard fire. curve as the basis. This test
had been carried out by the BrFlndveilighelc1sinstituut (Fire Hazards
Institute) and the St1chtine; Retiobouw (Rat1ohovw Foundation).
Dur-ing the test under actual conditions the temperature at which the construction was subjected to heat was hiGher than that during the
laboratory test. The strong effect from the high temperature above
-9-(c) Flashover
Bursting flames through the windows of the front room on the ground floor did not result in flashover to the rooms on the second
floor. As can be seen from Fig. 14, the bursting flames were
re-latively small in width and height.
The heating of the glass was intense enough to cause it to crack
or but'st. However, it is possible that the panes would have burst
from the window frames and that the curtains behind them \'lould have caught fire, if the bursting flames had been wider and higher and if the glass of the window frames on the second floor had consisted of larger units than was the case in this test.
Graph 6 shows that the maximum of the mean temperature at the
window of the front room on the ground floor 1s approximately 830°C and is lower than the temperatures in the centre and at back of the
room. In the literature(4-7) the danger of flashover to properties
on the opposite side of the street from the fire as a result of rad1-ation is defined by taking into account a temperature of 1,000oC. Although the temperatures during the test were higher than expected,
they did not reach 1,000oC. This test confirms that the adoption
of 1,000oC for the temperature of the window area is certainly a
safe basis. (The measurements show that if the entire block of
houses in Fig. 2 is assumed to be on fire, the front emits radiation
the intensity of which at a distance of 10 m will no longer be
suf-ficient to ignite wood by flying cinders.)
IX. Summary of Results
It is evident from the measurements that the temperature in the front room rose much more rapidly than it would according to the
fire curve defined in NEN 1076.
The time during which the ceiling and wood floor resist the fire is less (17 min) than the resistance to fire determined according to
The difference is due probably to the higher temperatures during the test under actual conditions, not only in the lower part of the
construction but also in the upper part. As early as 10 min after
the beginning of the fire a temperature of 500°C was measured in the
front room on the ground floor. This temperature is sufficiently
high to set the wood in the front room on fire and is caused by the spread of the fire through the passage door, passage, staircase, back room and plywood partition between the back and front rooms, since the ceiling and floor construction between the two front rooms
collapsed in barely 17 min. For the mean temperature of the window
area of the front room on the ground floor a maximum temperature of 830°C is obtained from the radiation measurements during the test. This temperature is Lower- than the temperature of 1,OOOoC which is
ｶｓｾＮＱＸＮＱＱｹ taken into account when the danger of flashover due to radiation is estimated.
Flashover to the rooms on the second floor through the windows of the front room on the ground floor was not observed during the test.
Hovrever-, it is H question whether flashover might not have been
possible under different conditions With respect to the factors which determine the flashover, e.g. with e larger WindON area, larger
Window panes or a favourable wind. No large-scale studies hElve as
yet been made nor in general has there been any s t.udy of the influence of factors "Thich determine the progress of a n.re, such 8.S type,
quantity and disposition of the fire load, shape and size of the
room on fire, material of the walls, Window area and wind conditions. Renently a research team of the Conseil International du Batiment
(C.I.B.) drew up a programme for investigations on an international scale in order to obtain, by means of models, greater knowledge of
the influence of the above factors on the progress of a fire. It is
clear that especially fUll-scale model tests can contribute a great deal to the adVAncement of such knowledge.
It is moreover to be hoped that the fire in Zwolle, which, in this respect, is a novelty in the NetherlandS, will not remain the only case, but that with suitable modifications it will serve as a pattern in other towns and cities as well.
-11-References
1. Studies of tbe growth of fire. Fire Infor-mation Note No.3. Iebr. 1948. Joint Fire Research Organization.
2. Interne mededeling van de
werkgrocj-Brandveiligheid van de Conseil Internatio-nal du Batirnent - C.LD.
3. Kumo Kawagoe. Fire Behaviour in Roo",', Report of the Building Research Institute, no. 27, sept. 1958.
4. Lawson, D.I. and Hird, D. Radiation from burning buildings. Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and Fire Offices' Committee Joint Fire Research Organization F.P.E. Note No. 58/1951, june 1951. 5. Viotto Virtala und Unto Toivonen.
Bau-dichte und Brandslcherheit, Staatliche Tech-nische Forschungsanstalt, Bericht 127. 1955.
6. Lie Tiam Tjoan. Brandoverslag door stea-ling. Polytechnisch Tiidschrift A. 12. B-12.
1957.
7. Besson J.. et Fackler J. P. Espaces Coupe - feu dans les grandes agglomerations. Cahiers du Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bariment, no. 26.
Flgo 1
ps -13-ｉｾ /
/ /
//::
ｾＧ
ex/
/ 14 xI3 PUSd.Ae. XQ / / / front ｲＴｾＢＧＢ IL..
Height of thermocouples5: 2 m above the floor
6: 2 m above the floor
7: 2 m above the floor
8: directly under the ceiling
9: 2 m above the floor
10: 2 m above the floor
11: 2 m above the floor
12: 2 m above the floor
13: directly ａｾｩｮｳｴ the ceiling
14: 2.5 m above the floor.
1: 1.20 m above the floer
2: 1.20 m above the floor
3: 1 m above the floor /
4: 2 m above the floor
15: 1.30 m above the floor
Fig. 4
Disposition of the centre dwelling and position of the thermocouples
I
I
I
I
I
fi'lgo 8 After 3 minutesFlashover through the door of the front room to the passage. Lowest steps of the stairs are
catching fire from burning jute
on the floor of the passage
Fig.. 5
Fig.. '7
After :2 minutes
appear in the door frame,
screen of the kltchen9 the
roof above and dormer window
Time ｾ zero
front room was on fire immedl- Smoke is escaping througtl chinks
Fig." 9
After of the ceillng behind the
ｾｶＮｾｾｉＫＮ､ｯｯｲ partially gives way@
entire st!:".irway is on fire After
to the front
Fig'., 11
After 8 minutes
room9 stairs aneI part of the
front door a.re ｢ｬ｡ｾＺｴｮｧ fiercely
Fig., 10
-4 minutes
At the back the leaping flames
increase in extent,. Height ｡ｰｾ
proximately 2 metres
6 mlrmtes
rOOm 1s almost completely burnt
Fig.. 12
After 11 minutes
The edge of the root of the
ad-Jacent property a.t the back 1s
fire has eaten thrOUgh the roof at the back
Fig.. 15
After 19 minutes
front room On the second floor
is On fire
Parts of the ee iling of the front room ｣ｯｬｬ｡ｰｳ･ｾ Flames pierce
ceiling Bnd flooI'0 Flames are
leaping from front window" The
glass of the windows ahove
re-ｭｾｩｮｳ intact
Fig.. 16
After 20 minutes
The fire fighters arrive at the
｢｡｣ｫｾ ｅｸｴｬｮｾＴＱｳｨｬｮｧ has not
ｾＱＷＭ
Fig" 17
After 21 minutes
front room on the second floor is burntng fiercely.. The glass of
window frames 1s ｭ･ｬｴｩｮｧｾ Flames are leaping out of the ｷｩｮ､ｯｷｾ
Burning cinders are escaping from the roof
Fig.. 18
After 22 minutes
Extinguishing with spray at the front of right-hand side dwelling After 23 minutes
Extinguishing at the back has started After 25 minutes
10 ndMd ; ire c.urve 16 r • , I , I , , I , I I ,\ /i-J \l\ i\｜ｾ
IV"
\", \kI
ｾＧ IJII 'ltf<:JJ-" sta I ,,-I brote. --j \j i ! I i i I iI
ｾｦＭ (-.) 000 o lIOO ｾ ｾ '""OJ ｾ 1200 ｾ..,
Q. ｾｉｏｏｏ +'t
Graph 1Temperatures 1n the front room on the ground floor measured w1th
thermocouples no. 9, 10 and 11
oj i ｬｉｏｏｾＭＫＭｴｉＭＫＭ｣ｉＭＭＫＭＫｷｲＭｾｾｾ .u -e
"-..
0. o Graph 2Temperatures 1n the back room on the ground floor measured w1th
-19-A
I
! \
J : \,7
o I 16 :1& Graph 3Temperatures in the front room on the second floor measured with
thermocouples no. 3, 4 ｡ｾｬ､ 5
•
16 I n ｾＭ I I I I I I I 1 I I ... I ｾ ,1\,/ ,.1 I I IIII
I , I 1 Ir
Iv
" I II I I I i1---:;
Ｈｯｯｾ o 200 .. 00 600 ｾ 1200 " .;.> 1> ...., 't1OOO \\I ...,t
100 Graph 4Temperatures in the back room on the second floor measured with thermocouples no. 1 and 2
..
I I :\ I ',..
/fI I I' I I I I V , J , r'" \..- I I IV
I,
,,
,I
;
I.:
I ,\; ｉｾ , ,,
, I Ｍｾ ｾt
800 600 200 o•
iii 5 Graph 5Temperatures ln passage and kltchen measured wlth
thermocouples no. 5 and 14
(Thermocouples no. 12 and 13 fal1ed)
ｾ \
/f
t
\. ｾM
\.A
"'"
'I,\
,, II t--jI'-- -\j_L
'\T
... I 0 24 0. Q 0, - - ("*') Graph 6 Graph 7Radlatlon from the window of the front room on the ground floor
Characterlstic temperature curve durlng the flre
