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FIRE SERVICE AND GENERAL FIRE SAFETY TOPICS => Fire Safety => Topic started by: nearlythere on July 07, 2012, 05:25:35 PM
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-18754270
I always include in my presentations to staff in residential care premises of the hazards of using hairspray in the vicinity of candles and explain where this could happen.
Granny's birthday and the grandchildren are tarting her up for a family party in a private room. The old dear's hair is brushed and hairspray, extra hold, is applied. After the dinner the birthday cake is brought out and the candles lit. Granny leans forward to blow them out, gets too close to them and woof. After a few laughs I show the snippet of the aerosol can in the fire and the idiot wacking it with the stick. Gets the message across quite well.
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After a few laughs I show the snippet of the aerosol can in the fire and the idiot wacking it with the stick. Gets the message across quite well.
Not seen that one NT. Is it on utube?
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After a few laughs I show the snippet of the aerosol can in the fire and the idiot wacking it with the stick. Gets the message across quite well.
Not seen that one NT. Is it on utube?
Clipaday & earch for "Aerosol Can Explosion".
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They used to demonstrate the deodorant can on fire when i first sat my rgit test, 4 years later no longer done!
Even though i was expecting the bang, it was quite scary,and i was glad it was contained in a steel cage!
Tony
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On my first ever live fire course they demonstrated the danger of aerosols by resting a steel pipe in the Class A crib, lighting the fire & dropping an almost empty can down the tube and waiting to see what happened - of course eventually there was a bang & the homemade mortar shell would fly across the field next to the fire ground. This was in the late 80's when you could get away with such things but it got the message across better than any statistics
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Please see link to local news item concerning this very subject
http://www.wirralnews.co.uk/wirral-news/local-wirral-news/wallasey-news/2012/07/09/elderly-woman-in-hospital-with-18-burns-after-clothes-catch-fire-in-merseyside-hairdressing-salon-100252-31352014/
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There are two problems you are discussing.
The sealed pressurised canister rupturing due to the build-up of internal pressure causing a mechanical explosion.
And the flammability of the contents.
Notwithstanding what you are applying; be it perfume, (as to under arms etc.) or a sticky substance designed to hold things in place (as in hair spray), or paint, or glue, or gap filling foam; to name a few, the propellant these days is a hydrocarbon…. Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), usually n-butane or iso-butane. Although industrial aerosols intended to be used out doors or in cold environments may use propane. These are flammable by themselves let alone the contents.
The common received wisdom is that LPG being heavier than air (relative density) will sink. However, don’t forget this LPG is vaporised into a fine mist and efficiently mixed with air entrained into the gas stream by Bernoulli's principle and venturi action. The gas can further be heated or caught into up-draughts or thermals, such as in front of fires heaters of hair dryers.
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There was a case where a can of shaving foam extinguished a small fire in a bathroom.