Characterization of Volatile Organic Compounds in Smoke at Experimental Fires

Abstract

Significant associations between firefighting and cancer have been reported; however, studies finding toxic products of combustion at municipal fires have been limited by (1) technical difficulties encountered at the scene of working fires, (2) the lack of a coherent sampling strategy, and (3) the absence of verified sampling methods. The objective of the present study was to characterize the presence of volatile organic compound (VOC) combustion products in fire smoke. Air samples from experimental fires burning various materials commonly found at structural fires were collected into evacuated Summa canisters and analyzed for 144 target VOCs using cryogenic preconcentration and gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy (GC/MSD) methodology. The resulting chromatograms were characterized by a small number of predominant peaks, with 14 substances (propene, benzene, xylenes, 1-butene/2-methylpropene, toluene, propane, 1,2-butadiene, 2-methylbutane, ethylbenzene, naphthalene, styrene, cyclopentene, 1-methylcyclopentene, isopropylbenzene) being found in proportionately higher concentrations in all experimental fires and accounting for 65% (SD = +/-12%) by mass of total measured VOCs. Benzene, toluene, 1,3-butadiene, naphthalene, and styrene were found at higher concentrations than most other VOCs and increased with the time of combustion together with increasing levels of carbon monoxide. Benzene was found in the highest concentrations, with peak levels ranging from 0.6 ppm to 65 ppm, while the levels of 1,3-butadiene, styrene, and naphthalene peaked at 0.1, 0.4, and 3 ppm, respectively. This study revealed that there were no new or novel, toxic nonpolar VOCs resulting from the burning of common building materials. This is important in view of the studies that have found associations between firefighting and various forms of cancer.

Particle and volatile organic emissions from the combustion of a range of building and furnishing materials using a cone calorimeter

“…The most extensively studied class of combustion products was inorganic gases. A small number of studies also investigated other pollutants including VOCs [27,31,32,35,39,44], PAHs [27][28][29]31,33,37,38,[45][46][47][48], dioxins and/or other persistent organic pollutants [33,40,47,[49][50][51][52] and particle size distribution [45,53]. Organic compounds were considered to be a potential hazard, but in most studies individual compounds have not been identified or quantified.…”

“…Additionally studies were conducted to assess emissions from a range of burning materials under well-controlled conditions during small bench-scale experiments [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38], emissions from largescale simulated room fires which were set up with a variety of furnishing materials [39][40][41][42] and emissions from vehicle fires [43]. These studies provide essential information on air pollutants released during combustion of materials.…”

Stone-dwelling actinobacteria Blastococcus saxobsidens, Modestobacter marinus and Geodermatophilus obscurus proteogenomes

“…Besides glutamine synthetase and glutamate synthase for ammonium assimilation, the three genomes contain a conserved operon coding for an ammonium transporter (AmtB) and a nitrogen regulatory protein (GlnB) (Supplementary Table S7). Air carries numerous volatile organic compounds, prominent among which is CO (Austin et al, 2001). Study of the genomes revealed that Bs, Mm and Go have several copies of the coxLMS operon (Supplementary Table S7), which would help them oxidize CO.…”

Biomonitoring of chemical exposure among New York City firefighters responding to the World Trade Center fire and collapse.

“…Hand-to-mouth contamination, contamination inside masks, and dermal absorption also may be important factors affecting chemical absorption. Although some chemicals are common to most fires (Austin et al 2001), neither knowledge of the burning materials nor environmental measurements can accurately predict the absorbed dose of combustion products. Recent studies have focused on acutely toxic firefighter exposures and specific aspects of firefighter response (Hartzell 1996); however, there has not been a comprehensive biomonitoring assessment of firefighters after a major incident.…”