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CCAI October 21-24

Fire Investigation Training Seminar

 

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From Out of the Abyss...

This week’s article from the past is titled Incendiary Fires Can Be Spotted and was written by Benjamin Horton, CPCU, who was President of the National Adjuster Traing School in Louisville, Kentucky..  It is taken from the Decembe 1968 Vol. XVI No.5 issue.

Incendiary Fires Can Be Spotted 

In the new issue of NFPA Journal®, President Jim Shannon said the Association will focus on the leading causes of home fires, including cooking. "We also need to continue to push hard for home fire sprinklers. That's still a large priority for NFPA, and we plan to work very aggressively in 2014 on our residential sprinkler initiative," he said.

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From the Danish Journal of Archaeology

Abstract

During excavations of the Viking-age ring fortress Borgring, Denmark, traces of a devastating fire was uncovered. The National Forensic Services of the Danish Police were invited to participate in a novel collaboration, applying contemporary forensic fire investigation to an archaeological site. This paper presents the results and sets a benchmark for future applications. The investigation leads to a revised reconstruction of the fortress and the development of the fire. The application of fire investigation methods, following the Daubert standard criteria, enhance the documentation and analysis of archaeological sites, while archaeological methods show significant potential at modern fire scenes.

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BY VYTO BABRAUSKAS

SHOCK, INJURY, OR DEATH {ELECTROCUTION) from the passage of electric current through a human body has been studied for more than a century. The level of response or injury depends on the magnitude of the current and also on the frequency, whether it is direct current (DC), power line alternating current (AC), or AC voltages of higher frequency. Some typical values are shown in Table 1.1 Children are generally more sensitive than adults; thus, guidelines often assume that a child is the person to be protected. With firefighting, however, this assumption is not reasonable. Furthermore, protection against a startle reaction is the most severe level of protection. A startle reaction is described as one in which a person jumps because of a small shock that does not injure the person. No direct electrical injury occurs because of startling; there is some hazard caused by jumping, but it is remote.

The "inability to let go" of an energized conductor that has been accidentally grabbed can cause pain and injury if the current increases to an injurious level. This is also called "muscle tetanization." Thus. Many safety requirements are based on a safety-factor-reduced value of the let-go current, even though this is quite a conservative stance. Matters are further complicated. Since individuals show variation in their responses and standards, bodies typically pick a very conservative level (often the 0.5 percentile) instead of the 50-percentile value. Physiological effects of electric current, furthermore, depend strongly on frequency. The most dangerous frequencies are the 50- or 60-Herz (Hz) power line frequencies. The human body becomes less sensitive to electric current at high frequencies.2 Dalziel3 has published a useful summary of safety guidance on electric shock.

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CPSC Advises Voluntary Industry Standards for Rechargeable Batteries Inadequate

Posted on February 6, 2017 by Stacie Evans

On January 23, 2017, Samsung announced that poorly designed and manufactured batteries are to blame for the fires associated with its Galaxy Note 7 phones.

The announcement comes after months of investigation by Samsung and three independent industry organizations. The investigation revealed problems with both the batteries that were originally used in the phone during its launch in August, as well as the batteries that were later used as replacements.

According to the results of the investigation, the outer casing for the first battery – manufactured by Samsung SDI – was too small to accommodate the internal components, allowing the components to short circuit and overheat. The second battery – manufactured by Amperex Technology – suffered from other design defects and a missing key component.
Samsung discontinued the Note 7 last year and agreed to recall 1.9 million phones after negotiations with the Consumer Product Safety Commission following several reports of the phones catching fire. Despite the worldwide recall, some customers have refused to stop using the phones.

On January 24, 2017, the CPSC, which is conducting its own investigation, issued a press release, stating that the industry’s voluntary standards for the design and manufacture of rechargeable batteries aren’t adequate. Those standards were first developed in 2006 and haven’t been revised since 2011. According to the press release, the CPSC and Samsung are working with the industry to “take a fresh look” at the standards.

“Industry needs to learn from this experience and improve consumer safety by putting more safeguards in place during the design and manufacturing stages to ensure that technologies run by lithium-ion batteries deliver their benefits without the serious safety risks,” CPSC Chairman Elliot Kaye stated in the release.

The current investigation by the CPSC is just the latest in a series of investigations raising concerns about the safety of lithium-ion batteries. The batteries are attractive to manufacturers because they hold power more efficiently and last longer than other power packs. However, they have also raised safety concerns because the chemicals inside the batteries hold so much energy that a failure can result in a fire or even a small explosion.

We will continue to monitor and blog about updates from the CPSC’s efforts to work with manufacturers to implement updated standards.

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