Development of electric cables for fire situations

During the past 25 years, many authorities have become concerned about the dangers of fire: for the safety of the people who might be trapped, the continued working of the electrical circuits associated with safety, the long-term effects of smoke and fume damage on sophisticated electronic equipment and even the effects on the buildings themselves. Although electric cables very rarely cause a fire, they are often engulfed in fires started elsewhere and consequently their constituent parts should not contribute to the fire, help spread it, nor emit gases during combustion that could harm people or damage equipment. This article highlights work carried out by the electric cable industry, often encouraged by customers, to develop new and better materials that will be safer to use should a fire occur. It also gives details of the standards, both British and the IEC equivalents, which relate to the performance of cables in fires and measure such characteristics as fire survival, fire resistance, fire propagation, smoke emission and toxicity.