Earticle

The most widely used method by fire investigators to identify the ignition point and cause of an electrical fire is the “arc mapping” technique, which uses electrical factors to find the ignition point. If multiple short circuit marks are found in electrical wiring connected like a spider web, electricity does not flow to the separated load side, so the final load side is viewed as the ignition point. Arc mapping is one of the techniques that fire investigators are currently using very widely when investigating and identifying electrical fires. However, there is a tendency to abuse the arc mapping technique at all fire scenes, and many recent limitations and negative research content on the technique have been mentioned. Accordingly, our research team conducted a fire reproduction experiment assuming the occurrence of multiple short circuits to more clearly and specifically derive the fire cause and ignition point.

This paper studies a technique for estimating fire patterns by analyzing the amount of change in material components. The background of the experiment is to find a method that can help people with less than two years of fire investigation practice find the ignition point. A total of 6 types of test samples were selected, including 4 types of steel plates, a front door collected from a fire site, and a brick building After heating the steel plate at a temperature of 700℃ for 1800s on a sample of 700mm in width and 700mm in length, An experiment was conducted to estimate the Fire pattern at the ignition point by analyzing the component change of the surface in the non-irrigated and watered state, and objective verification was conducted on the field applicability of this study using samples collected from the fire site. For each sample, changes such as Fe component rising and Zn component falling above the melting point were confirmed. By connecting sectors with a high rate of change, the fire pattern was completed and the ignition point was found, The change was greater in the watered state than in the non-watered state. The reason is that the surface is oxidized by water and the change is large. All experimental data are displayed in colors, graphs, and amount of change for easy interpretation, and reliability of data is improved by analyzing in three directions (X, Y, and Z axes) rather than in one direction. Through this material component analysis, it was possible to estimate the fire pattern, and based on this, it was confirmed that the ignition point could be found.

In the event of a fire, flammable materials may become a cargo of initial ignition. when the fire investigators arrive at the site after a fire occurs, the components may not be found in the debris of the site due to rapid evaporation. It is essential to collect samples from the debris of the site. It should be measured and analyzed for the flammable components to investigate the cause of the fire. Depending on the fire extinguishing method, the period of measurement of the flammable components in the samples of the debris of the fire site was slightly different, and the detection period became longer as the natural extinguishing, extinguishing by fire extinguisher, extinguishing by water from fire hoses, and suffocation extinguishing progressed. In the case of suffocation extinguishing covered with a cover sheets, the component detection was possible up to 12 days. The detection technique was proposed to strengthen the fire investigators' ability to detect inflammatory substances.

This study analyzes fire and smoke discharge patterns during a recent electric vehicle (EV) fire at the underground parking lot of Cheongna Apartment, Incheon, focusing on an unaffected area (direction of the Morning vehicle). It challenges claims that secondary damage was caused by the degradation of pipe finishes and PVC insulation materials, and examines the potential role of partition walls along the ceiling in fire spread. The study aims to simulate similar environments to confirm fire spread direction and characteristics in unpartitioned underground parking lots, as well as analyze the impact of exhaust ventilation systems on reducing fire damage. The hypothesis suggests that a “Fire Pocket-Zone” forms due to the ceiling structure, and ceiling exhaust systems may delay fire spread to neighboring vehicles.