Fire Service Hose

Report Released: Exposing Fire Service Hose in a Flashover Chamber

April 18, 2018

UL’s Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI) has released a technical report for the research project, Exposing Fire Service Hose in a Flashover Chamber. The report evaluates hose failure during thermal exposure from flaming hot gas layer conditions.  

Abstract

At the request of the Fire Department City of New York (FDNY), FSRI instrumented and documented a series of 12 thermal exposure hose experiments that were conducted in the burn compartment of an FDNY flashover simulator. The main objective of the experiments was to observe the performance of fire hoses exposed to the heat flux from flaming hot gas layer conditions above the hose. FDNY collected a variety of hose types that represented a cross section of commercially available materials and construction methods. The thermal exposures generated in the burn compartment were measured. The fire experiments were stopped once the hose being examined began to lose water through the wall of the hose. All of the hoses lost water through their wall, although the size of the holes and the amount of water leakage varied. While the burn compartment provided a “fire room environment” and different types of hose failures were demonstrated, the thermal exposure within the compartment was not demonstrated to be repeatable. Therefore it is not possible to develop a comparable rank or rating of the fire resistance of these hoses from this series of experiments.


Research Project: Exposing Fire Service Hose in a Flashover Chamber
Report Title: Exposing Fire Service Hose in a Flashover Chamber
Report Authors: Daniel Madrzykowski, Craig Weinschenk, Joseph Willi and Chief Brian Fink
Download the Report: https://dx.doi.org/10.54206/102376/TKOG7594
Release Date: April 18, 2018

Exposing Fire Service Hose in a Flashover Chamber