Abstract | This report describes and compiles the results of 14 full-scale post-flashover room fire experiments that were conducted in Phase 2 of the Characterization of Fires in Multi-Suite Residential Dwellings (CFMRD) project. The analysis of the test results is provided in Part 2 of the final project report. The CFMRD project was a collaborative undertaking with industry, provincial governments and city authorities that was initiated by NRC-IRC in 2006 to study fires in low-rise multi-suite residential dwellings of light-frame construction. The project was undertaken due to the need to: a) Address the lack of realistic design fires, which are required to aid the development of methods for achieving performance-based solutions to fire problems, and; b) Further the understanding of how fires in residential buildings sometimes cause fatalities and substantial property losses, as revealed by fire statistics. The CFMRD project focused on fires in dwellings, such as apartments, semi-detached houses, duplex houses, townhouses or row houses, secondary suites and residential care facilities as these fires have a potentially greater impact on adjacent suites. To this end, the fully-developed phase of a fire was of particular interest since there is a greater potential for the building assemblies enclosing the room of fire origin to be damaged by high temperatures during this period. |
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