‘Real-world’ Kitchen Fire Demonstration

Zenova Group PLC (AIM: ZED), a provider of innovative fire safety and heat management technology and products, is pleased to report on a ‘real-world’ kitchen fire demonstration it recently undertook in test conditions with the assistance of the Dorset and Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service and Exeter University.

For the demonstration, two identical kitchens were constructed at Dorset & Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service’s training centre in West Moors, Dorset. The walls and ceiling of the first kitchen were painted with a standard emulsion paint, whilst Zenova FP fire protection paint was used to paint the walls and ceiling of the second. Thermocouples were also installed throughout both kitchens by Professor Claire M. Belcher and her team from the wildFIRE Lab, University of Exeter, to record and analyse the flame spread, burn severity and damage in each test kitchen setup.

Each kitchen was subsequently ignited by way of an unattended cooking appliance, the cause of most fires in homes, and filmed using both conventional and thermal cameras.

The real-world kitchen fire demonstration concluded that the kitchen prepared using Zenova FP fire protection paint:

• emitted significantly less heat during the fire
• had reduced damage to wall and ceiling substrates, lower levels of charring on the walls
• experienced reduced flame spread as the materials beneath the paint used to construct the wall and ceiling did not burn
• had significantly reduced fire damage below kitchen counter level
• had a reduced heat signature and different fire behaviour
• delayed fire spread which would have provided more time for fire service to respond
• would have proved much less dangerous to life
• used approximately 75% less water to extinguish the fire

A short video of the ‘real-world’ kitchen fire demonstration, and a video explaining the thermal camera imagery from the demonstration can be found here: https://zenovagroup.com/media/zenova-fp-in-real-world-kitchen-fire-demonstration/‍

A comprehensive video which will include interviews with the experts involved in the demonstration will be added soon.

‍Commenting on the demonstration, Roy Bettencourt, General Trainer for Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “The intensity of the fire in the Zenova FP painted kitchen was considerably less than in the other kitchen and it took substantially less water to extinguish than the other kitchen fire. Once the fire in the Zenova FP kitchen was extinguished, it was also cool enough to quickly enter, which is something I have never witnessed before in all my years of training. “The reduced heat, and the fact that the Zenova FP fire protection paint stopped any degradation to the ceiling and walls, meant fewer gasses were emitted slowing fire spread. If these test burns were in real domestic situations, there would be a much greater chance of surviving the kitchen fire where Zenova FP had been applied.”

‍Professor Claire M. Belcher from the wildFIRE Lab, University of Exeter added: “Our initial observations, based on the level of charring in both kitchens, is that the fire in the kitchen with Zenova FP fire protection paint produced much less energy and caused much less damage.  “The Zenova paint protected the ceiling and walls from the heat flux from the fire, and the whole bottom layer of the kitchen was hardly charred. Clearly, the Zenova paint somehow suppressed the energy that was being produced by the fire and it will be interesting to see how the thermocouple readings compare between the two burns, and if there were different temperatures, in different parts of the kitchen, at different points in the test.”

‍Tony Crawley, Chief Executive of Zenova Group PLC also commented: “This live demonstration clearly illustrates the effectiveness of Zenova FP fire protection paint in a ‘real-life’ scenario and supports the results we have already achieved in the technical and legislation driven testing we have undertaken.“We believe that Zenova FP has an important role to play in helping to improve fire safety, and this demonstration further reinforces why Zenova FP has a significant place in the Global fire safety market.”