Dorm Room Fire Test Group
Facilitator: Eric Ciccone (617) 285-6261 www.DormRoomFire.com			Newsletter Date Volume 1, Issue 1
College Fire Safety Officer News Balanced Design improves fire safety for student Housing Ad hoc group forms to investigate dorm room fire safety. Boston dorm room test burn exceeds expectations. Contents Balanced Design (cont.) 2 Ad Hoc Group (cont.) 2 Dorm Room Fire (cont.) 3 “The Group” Members 4	Economically Enhancing Fire Safety in Student Housing with Passive Fire Protection…
	Balanced Design
	Balanced Design suggests that the best fire protection can be achieved by combining the use of Active and Passive Systems by incorporating 4 strategies: 1) Detection. 2) Suppression. 3) Education. 4) Containment. Reliance on any one system	component increases vulnerability, especially with deactivation or mechanical system failure. Merging the two Active elements with the Passive system elements builds much needed redundancy for better protection of the entire building and its occupants. College Fire Safety Officers are more familiar with the first 3 elements of this strategy. Historically, the		containment element has remained more elusive. This is especially true with existing buildings that were built with standard building materials or even masonry constructed buildings with many layers of paint on the walls and ceilings. The multiple layers of paint actually provide fuel to a fire. Flames rapidly spread within the room accelerating the ignition of the highly combustible room contents. The resulting heat and toxic smoke create a deadly cocktail for the occupants… (continued page 2)
	Ad Hoc Fire Safety Group Forms
	Officers Association helped facilitate a presentation to the Association members and invited them to collaborate on a “Full Scale Dorm Room Test Burn.” Over 40 members signed up to participate. An email discussion group ensued. The ad hoc group dubbed “The Dorm Room Fire Test Group” was born. Word of the new group spread and interest grew. The group’s ranks swelled to over 150 college safety officers, MIT’S fire safety officer Jack Metallo put out a challenge to have a “real world” full scale dorm room test to contain a fire to the room of origin using fire resistant paint. Remi Fluette the EH&S director for Boston University joined the challenge and suggested a collaboration with area colleges. Perry Cayton, the Fire Safety Officer from Tufts and President of The New England College & University Fire Safety	engineers and fire scientists from around the country. They quickly developed the test burn criteria. A 12’x14’x8’ room with actual combustible dorm room furniture filled with synthetic materials would represent a typical dorm room today. An exact duplicate room would be constructed and burned simultaneously to evaluate the performance. (continued page 2)

Dorm Room Fire Test
“This substance is a second generation fire resistant paint developed for the aviation industry and the military.” NEW FIRE RESISTANT PAINT CAN SAVE STUDENT LIVES By Don Harney Freelance Journalist BOSTON, MA - A fire erupts in the corner of a college dormitory room. The flames lick the foot of the bed and quickly tear up the wall, igniting the clothing hanging in the closet. Within minutes there is no way out. The room is fully engulfed in flames and the temperature reaches 1400 degrees. It is too late to save anyone in the room. neither room is occupied by students. Both rooms have been constructed at the Boston Fire Department training facility at Moon Island for a test burn on October 1, 2005. They are virtually exact replica dorm rooms, complete with bunk beds, computers and ‘Go Red Sox’ banners. The only difference between the rooms is the paint coating on them. “This substance is a second generation fire resistant paint developed for the aviation industry and the military. It is now being introduced for commercial use,” says Lee DeVito of Firepro Engineering. (continued page 3) Meanwhile, a fire breaks out in a room just yards away at the same exact time. The flames burst out in the same location at the foot of the bed, yet do not ignite the wall with the ferocity of the flames in the neighboring room. The flames merely linger, contained in one area as the inferno in the room next door pours out of the front doorway, into the hall and blasts through the rear window sending shards of glass spewing all over the ground outside. Fortunately,
Inside Balanced Design
response and evacuation is especially critical when the behavior of the building occupants is unpredictable. Adolescent or impaired students often disable fire protection systems. To make matters worse numerous false alarms cause students to develop what is called “alarm apathy.” As a result students frequently stay in their rooms even when the alarm signals a real fire.	Limiting the flame spread, delaying flashover and heat penetration within the room provides much needed time to evacuate under fire conditions. Doing so, limits smoke propagation and ultimately contains the fire to the room of origin. Emerging technology allows ordinary buildings to perform extraordinarily under fire conditions. Improvements in fire stopping materials, fire resistant data cables and now a 2^nd generation intumescent fire resistant paint have now proven to buy more time to evacuate under fire conditions….the paint can turn ordinary looking walls into an integral part of the life safety system of buildings. Improving the length of time before flashover to allow for fire department
Cooperation within The Group helped create a level of synergy that exceeded expectation. Together The Dorm Room Fire Test Group successfully demonstrated that new technology in passive fire protection can save lives and property. Diversified Engineers collected the thermocouple & infrared data to help satiate the information appetite of the fire scientist from Worcestor Poly Tech. Peter Rizzi of Northeastern University donated all the actual dorm room furniture. The level of Know-how and The site chosen to handle the 2,688 cubic feet of blazing rooms was Boston Fire Department’s Training Academy at Moon Island. (Home of The Country’s first fire department.) Volunteers within The Group donated their expertise, time and materials. Todd Rocco of Inside Ad Hoc Dorm Room Fire Test Group

Dorm Room Fire Test (continued)
“This paint clearly reduced the flame spread in this test. This emphasis on redundant passive protection is critical..”	The results of the October 1st dorm room test burn on Moon Island convinced Boston Fire Officials that these fire resistant coatings can save lives. “The intumescent paint did work,” says Boston Fire Department Captain and drillmaster Hugh Duffy, who oversaw the test, “The difference that I saw was that heat re-radiation from the walls back to the materials that surrounded it, namely a bureau, desks and bedding. The building that had just the latex paint re-radiated that heat such that the room flashed-over a significant amount of time prior to the intumescent paint room.” “The point of flash-over is the point of no return. Nobody can survive that. That extra time allows a person to successfully escape from a fire,” adds Captain Duffy. This past year has been a particularly deadly year for college student fires according to Everett Fire Department Deputy Chief Paul Calderwood, who has twenty years prior experience as the Fire Marshall at Tufts University. “This year was one of the deadliest years on college campuses. In April alone, we lost five students	fire) out.” Barbara Spalding, Project Manager of Construction Services for Wesleyan University echoes Calderwood’s concern about the current state of fire prevention and protection in both on and off-campus student housing. “Sprinkler systems are not required in a lot of on-campus dormitories,” Spalding says, adding that off-campus housing fire detection and suppression is even more of a concern because it is difficult to regulate. This new technology of fire resistive coatings should now be an integral part of a balanced design in college housing fire protection, according to Spalding. “This paint clearly reduced the flame spread in this test. This emphasis on redundant passive protection is critical,” she says, adding, “I would feel better even if this coating was built into kitchens where many fires are generated.” Pleased with the results of the dorm room test burn, Boston Fire Commissioner Paul Christian emphasizes the importance of this test. “We are totally committed to life safety in this city,” Commissioner Christian says, adding, “Of particular interest to us is the college dormitory situations… We have tens of thousands of students who come in here every year. Unfortunately, across the country every year you are going to read about college fires in which young students lose their lives in their rooms. If anything can be done to extend the time for escape before the room temperature gets high enough to cause serious injury or even death, we are behind it 100%.” in three different fires. Since 2000, we’ve lost 75 students,” he comments. College students seem to be particularly vulnerable to fire fatalities partially because of their new found independence in on- and off-campus housing. “Seventy-five percent of student fatalities are in off-campus housing,” Calderwood says, adding, “That’s where we run into a problem. These are non-supervised housing setups. Candles are probably the number one killer of college students today.” The contents of today’s typical college student’s room is also a factor in the recent increase in student fire fatalities. Calderwood reflects back to a time when the typical dormitory room was solid woods with very little plastic. “Back then, the burn load in a room was probably 8000 BTUs (British Thermal Units) per pound,” he says, “Now what we are dealing with computers, stereos, televisions and mane-made fabrics…. that rate is up to 18,000 to 22,000 BTUs per pound. From a firefighter’s standpoint, that means I have very little time between ignition, finding the fire, getting (the occupants) out and getting us in to put (the
Dorm Room Fire Test Group Members Jack Matello - MIT Alan Otto - University of Illinois Alice Kinkelaar - Urbana Fire Art Andersen - Boston College Barbara Spalding - Wesleyan Bernard Haskell - Dartmouth Bernie Farrell - Bentley College Bill Guffey - University of Maryland Bill McLaughlin - Tufts University Bob Carasitti - Shirmer Engineering Brian Kuhn - WPI Bruce Plummer - Dartmouth Bruce Proia - Newton Fire Byan Douglass - WPI Christina Longden - Cornell Burn Chuck March - WPI Cpt. Hugh Duffey - Boston Fire Cpt. Martin McCormick–Boston Fire Fire Department Dave Pierpont - H.C. Starck Inc. Debbie Sorrell - University of Missouri-Columbia Dennis Harrington - Ramapo College Don Wood - Boston College Doug Clark - Varian Semiconductor Ed Comeau - Campus-Fire Watch Ed Hart - Providence College Ed Kotak - RW Sullivan Eric Tragrash - Mass Elevator Safety Association-President Eugenia Kennedy - Exponent \ Howard Lefkin - UMass Medical Jack Beckwith – Ultra Guard Janet Maupin - Champaign Fire Jason Kramarczyk - WPI Jeff Duby - WPI Jeff Tubbs ARUP Jeffrey Murphy - SFC Engineering Jennifer Combs - MIT Jeryl Frankenfield - Hanover Fire Jim Gibbs - Arizona State Jim Guy - University of Buffalo Joe Rolli - Tufts University John Soucy - Gordon College John Wallace - BU Medical Jon Levis - Varian Semiconductor Kathy Notarianni - Ph D WPI Ken Paulaski - Princeton Kevin Callery - Hughes Associates Brian Janes – RI School of Design Tim Gennett - Purdue University Lynne Deninger - Sasaki Associates K.C. Wigle - VOA Architects Michael Mistriner - Cannon Design Stephanie Hammer - 21^st Century Int Fire Equipment Earl Wright - U of Tennessee Michael Sachs - Cornell University Larry Bassow - Cal State Chico Kathy Dorrity - Ventex Lynn Riker - NJ Institute of Tech Sean Duggan - Texas Tech Allison Wisniewski - Rutgers Fred Vanstrander - Rensselaer Imogen Hinds - Stanford Mark Shaklee - E Illinois University John Carr - CSI Insurance Grant Skomski - Central Michigan U Rick Hendrick - Embry Riddle U. Bradon Cordts - 3M Fire Protection George Yoshida - 3M Fire Protection Sean Portley - 3M Fire Protection Joe Kingston - CT St Fire Marshall Joseph Fleming - Deputy Chief BFD Sean Lydon - 3M Fire Protection Stanley Gatland - CertainTeed Thomas O’Donnel - Boston ISD Jay Ierardi - PhD RW Sullivan Jeff Tubbs - ARUP John Downey - Boston ISD John O’Brien - Boston ISD Matt Mulvey - MA Bldg Inspectors Assoc/Building&ZoningConsultant Charles Colburn - Boston ISD Chris Clemente - Andover ISD Keith May - Graco Spray For more information contact: PyroBlok Fire Resistant Coatings College & University Representative: Eric Ciccone 95 Munroe Street Lynn, MA 01901 www.DormRoomFire.com www.PyroBlok.com Phone (617) 285-6261 Fax (781) 592-6214 E-mail Eric.Ciccone@verizon.net Paul Christian Boston Fire Paul Dunphy - Harvard Perry Cayton - Tufts Peter Rizzi - Northeastern Pia Washington -U ofCincinnati Remi Fluette – Boston U Robert Calobrisi - BFD/BEMA John Walsh - Boston ISD Marc Joseph - Boston ISD Art Andersen - Boston College Brian Scally - Boston ISD Gerry Towle - 3M Fran McCormick AcademcRisk Cheryl Odem -Boston ISD Todd Rocco - Diversified Eng Jim Marston - AulsonCompany Bob Pliskin – PyroBlok Ferrara - Montclair University Robert MacCormic –Olin C Robert Maloney - St. Johns Ryan Carvalho -Independent Ryan Graves - WPI Sal Yerard - Newton Fire Scott Harper - Pima College Sean Toomey - Concord, Fire Stacy Baldwin - Wesleyan Terri Konchesky – W Virginia U Todd Hetrick - WPI Tom Bull - MIT W.Parker Browne -Browne Fire Walter B Adams - WBA William Scott - Rutgers ESU Patricia Beaulieu -FM GLOBAL Jeff Obrien - Gordon College Sara Praschak - WPI Jim Narva - Wyoming State Fire Marshal Anthony Caputo – Pyrotech Jason Shook - WPI Michael Coelho - Mass Department of Public Safety Paree L Roper -United Educators Brett Williams - Lumbermans Insurance Ron Alpert - Sc D Alpert Fire Tim Vellrath - Vellrath Engineering Howell A Gordy - Carter Burgess Adolfo B Cuevas - MVernon Group Glade Squires -American Fire Safety Mark Blackburn -Hughes Associates David Kiddoo - Alpha Gary Gary Duane Roberts - U of N.Texas
Kristin Hoffman - Honeywell Kristin Jamison - WPI Kurt Ruchala - Fire Pro Lee DeVito - Fire Pro Mark MacDonald - Alpha Fire Michael Lambe Mike Favaloro -Gordon C Mike Swain - U of Mass Nick Cricenti -SFC Engineering Paul Calderwood – Tufts