Bulletin of Japan Association for Fire Science and Engineering

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An experimental study was conducted to compare the ignition potential of Reduced Ignition Propensity (RIP) cigarettes with that of conventional cigarettes using Japanese style bedding, futon, in order to examine the effectiveness of RIP cigarettes in the context of Japanese fire scenarios. Number of ignitions of futon caused by two different types of cigarettes, namely, conventional cigarette (Non-RIP) and RIP cigarette were examined in a variety of testing conditions on compressibility and filling materials of futon. In order to estimate the compression ratio of futon, thickness of used futon were compared with those of new futon. The thickness of used futon was between half and one-third of that used futon. The number of ignitions in this test showed no difference between used and new futon. Difference in the number of ignitions of futon observed in different test settings were compared to see the effects of cigarette types, compression ratio of futon, and filling materials of futon. Test results did not show significant difference between non-RIP and RIP cigarettes in any of those test conditions. It is considered that filling materials of futon is the most contributing factor to the ignition at least under the experimental conditions examined in this study.

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When a large-scale fire or a serious emergency occurs in a high-rise building, it is highly likely that all occupants start to evacuate at once, which might generate risks of congestion and overcrowded status in staircase. However, due to insufficient investigation data acquired from actual total evacuations from high-rise buildings, the entire picture of the mechanism that causes and finally ends up with congestion in a staircase has not yet been studied. In this study, we analyzed the results of recording the behavior of approximate 800 evacuees on stair landings using video cameras during a phased evacuation drill conducted in a 25-story high-rise office building. We discussed causes, propagations and eliminations of congestion after merging in the staircase. As a result, the three occurrence factors of congestion and the threshold densities at landings and stairs causing congestion propagation has been clarified.

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