Background and Aim
In February 2022, Zenova undertook a ‘real-world’ kitchen fire demonstration in test conditions with the assistance of the Dorset and Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service and Exeter University.
Testing
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, Exeter University, 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.
Results
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
Roy Bettencourt, General Trainer for Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service stated, “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. 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.”