Citation

Cheng TM, Chang KY, Shen TS. J. Appl. Fire Sci. 2004; 13(2): 163-178.

Affiliation

Fire Bureau, Taoyuan County, Taoyuan City, Taoyuan County 330, Taiwan

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, Baywood Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The big fires we have seen so often in Taiwan usually result in a big loss of lives and damage of material. To restrain and prevent fires, government agencies have revised relevant policies while launching public safety plans. At the same time, intensive campaigns and seminars on countermeasures are conducted repeatedly. In this article, we like to carry out electric wire charging tests on invisible hazardous factors using simulated use of domestic electrical wires. On the other hand, a comparative analysis is conducted on vintage wires obtained from random sampling. The survey on housing updates launched by this study suggests the major flaws in using electric power are: aging and tripping electrical wires and outlets, unauthorized use of extension cords, improper joining of electrical wires and bare wires, which all are rated as potential factors to fires triggered by domestic electrical wires. In the electrical wire charging test, vintage wires tend to be subjected to minimum current flow, roughly at 90% that of new wires of like type. What we also learn is that vintage wires are not the only ones to blame for fires, it's the unacceptable habit of use and lack of maintenance. Therefore, this study checks out vintage housing before releasing substantial and successful countermeasures that meet legal requirements and eventually do minimize fire cases.

Language: en