NFPA Journal - Spring 2024 - 48

may not present themselves with a
physical characteristic.
Since a hazardous material is not
always obvious, it is important to
provide visible hazard identification
signs for both building occupants and
first responders. NFPA 704, Standard
System for the Identification of the
Hazards of Materials for Emergency
Response, can be used to create
placards that identify the health, flammability,
instability, and special hazards
of materials. A quick reference to the
NFPA 704 identification system (nfpa.
org/704) provides much more detail.
MYTH: Chocking a door open is
not dangerous.
Many people may think that propping
open a self-closing door is an innocent
action. However, if that door is a fire door,
then this action is risking the lives of the
occupants as well as the integrity of the
building if a fire were to occur. A fire door
is an assembly that is installed in a fire
wall or fire barrier to provide a degree of
fire protection to that opening.
FACT: Chocking a door open
is dangerous.
If a fire door is not able to self-close
and latch, then it is unable to properly
protect the opening in the fire wall or
barrier that it is protecting. This will
lead to fire being able to spread uncontrolled
throughout a building and, most
importantly, into areas such as hazardous
locations or into protected areas such as
an exit stairwell that occupants rely on to
evacuate the building during a fire.
MYTH: Electric vehicles burn
hotter than internal combustion
engine vehicles.
As the world begins the switch to using
more electric vehicles (EVs) for transportation,
we have begun to see fires involving
EVs. One of the myths that we hear is that
EVs burn hotter than a typical internal
combustion engine (ICE) vehicle.
FACT: Electric vehicles do not
burn hotter than internal combustion
engine vehicles.
Research by the Fire Protection Research
Foundation, as well as a recent report
published in the journal Fire Technology,
found that, overall, EVs do not
present a greater hazard than ICE vehicles.
It was found that ICE vehicles have
a larger peak heat release rate due to
the burning of the fuel in the gas tank,
but it burns out quickly. EV fires tend to
develop slower and not get as large, but
they can burn for much longer. Additionally,
many of the other components, such
as the plastic interior and body pieces,
are the same between electric and ICE
vehicles and will burn similarly.
It is important to note that the lithium-ion
(or similar) batteries inside of
EVs fail and burn in a much different
way than ICE vehicles. When lithium-ion
batteries fail, they go through
a process called thermal runaway,
where a single cell failure can cause the
production of heat and oxygen as well
as flammable and toxic gasses. This
then spreads to adjacent cells, causing
potential rapid fire growth or explosions.
That, in addition to the other
unique characteristics of an EV fire,
such as stranded energy and reignition,
make the firefighting response to an EV
fire much more complicated than an
ICE vehicle fire.
TGS5043
for the detection of
Carbon Monoxide
Features
High durability over a wide
temperature range from -40 to 70°C
High durability at
high temperature/humidity
condition such as 65˚C, 95%RH
Meets UL2034, UL2075, EN50291,
and RoHS requirements
Applications
CO detectors for unconditioned
areas such as garages
CO detectors for use in RVs,
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or aircraft cockpit
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internal structure and materials. These features make it the ideal choice for CO detectors in
unconditioned areas such as garages, as well as for use in RVs, motorboats, or commercial
vehicles. The TGS5043 utilizes a standard AA battery size package.
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48 | NFPA JOURNAL * SPRING 2024
MYTH: Smoke alarms in a hotel room
or apartment will set off the entire
building alarm.
Many people think that all of the fire
alarm system notification appliances
in an apartment building or hotel
will initiate if they were to accidentally
set off the smoke alarm in their
apartment or hotel room. In reality,
NFPA 101®
, Life Safety Code®
permit that to happen.
FACT: Smoke alarms in a hotel room or
apartment will not set off the alarm for
the entire building.
Section 9.6.2.10.11 of the 2021 edition
of NFPA 101 requires that dwelling unit
smoke alarms only sound in that individual
dwelling unit and not throughout the
entire building. The reason behind this is
that if there were an accidental activation
of these alarms in a unit the entire building
would not need to evacuate.
However, if a smoke detector in a
common space of the building or water
flow alarm from the sprinkler system
were to activate, then the entire building
would be notified to evacuate since
, would not

https://www.figarosensor.com/

NFPA Journal - Spring 2024

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