[SML] polystyrene decoration on fire again

[Dale Farmer]

LIke it says on the t-shirt.
Nonflammable?
Challenge accepted.

ON a more serious note, these polystyrene trees were, I presume, 
intended for more or less permanant installation outdoors by a pool on 
the nevada desert.   I would presume that there was some sort of 
protective and decorative coating to make them look more treelike and 
less polystyrenelike.  I would hope that this coating had some strength 
and fire retardant qualities, but I have no evidence of that.

Also, the video clips showed an awful lot of flame and smoke coming from 
a relatively small area on fire.  Some of that would be from the dense 
packing of these 'trees' to provide shade for the patrons in the area 
providing a lot of fuel, and easy spread of fire once it got rolling.

   I'm curious how long the fire actually lasted.   I would expect the 
polystyrene trees would have long been burned up by the time the fire 
department got there, let alone schlepped all the gear up to the 14th 
floor, got the pipes and hoses filled with water to actually go fight 
the fire.  Were there other fuel sources, such as wooden or plastic 
furnishings, or huts for a bar and so on?

    Fire dept spokesman said fire was fully extinguished after 30 
minutes, which suggests to me that the intense phase of the fire was 
well over by the time the FD got water on the flames, and they were 
pretty much putting out any fires on slower burning wooden items and 
structures, and drowning any embers.

   The article said rooms were damaged and the 14th and 15th floors were 
closed, presumably any fire in them would have been controlled by the 
sprinkler system.

ONe news article quoted a guest who had noted cigarette burn holes in 
the roof of one of the cabanas the day before, and speculated that they 
were from butts flicked down from the rooms above.

The article also mentioned the extensive decorative lighting as a 
possible source of ignition.

Dale

On 7/26/2015 2:34 PM, Jerry Durand via Stagecraft wrote:
> The article said a cigarette was suspected.
>
> On 07/26/2015 11:31 AM, e-mail frank.wood95 wrote:
>> What was the source of ignition?
>>
>> Many years ago, one of our set designers planned to use polystyrene to
>> make some gothic arches. As LD, I was worried, so I conducted an
>> experiment. I set up a 2' square panel, from the packaging of a
>> domestic appliance, and pointed a 1KW VNSP Par at it from about a foot
>> range. After an hour, the polystyrene panel was noticeably thinner
>> where the beam had fallen on it, but that was all.
>>
>> OTOH, I remember going up a wooden step-ladder to adjust the 1KW PAR
>> cans I was using in booms. By the time I had finished, smoke was
>> coming from the ladder.
>>
>> Safety experts, please advise.
>>
>>
>
> --
> Jerry Durand, Durand Interstellar, Inc.www.interstellar.com
> tel: +1 408 356-3886, USA toll free: 1 866 356-3886
> Skype:  jerrydurand
>
>
>
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