| Reconstruction of a Fire Caused by a Kerosene Heater Misfueled with Gasoline |
|
Masakatsu Honma, Katsuhiro Okamoto, Hiroki Yamasaki, Toshikazu Ichikawa, Daisuke Imoto, Akihiro Kawaguchi, Mitsuru Watanabe, Keisuke Ito |
|
National Research Institute of Police Science, Kashiwashi, Japan |
Correspondence:
Masakatsu Honma, Tel: +81-4-7135-8001, Fax: +81-4-7133-9169,
Email: honma@nrips.go.jp
|
|
Received: 26 February 2025 • Revised: 18 March 2025 • Accepted: 18 March 2025 |
| Abstract |
|
Heaters are the second most common cause of house fires that result in fatalities in Japan. Thus, this study focuses on kerosene heater fires. Evidently, when gasoline is mixed with kerosene, its flash point drops, and the risk of fire increases, as gasoline is highly flammable. We studied fuel overflow fires caused by gasoline misfueling, which can occur with kerosene heaters. Such misfueling fires occur mainly during the winter season every year. The aims of this study are as follows: (1) to propose a method for reconstructing a fire caused by fuel overflow due to the misfueling of gasoline, and (2) to contribute to fire investigation methods for use with similar cases. We clarified the mechanism of fuel overflow from the kerosene heater caused by gasoline misfueling and developed initial fire source models that could be used for an in silico fire dynamics simulator (FDS) for kerosene heaters by conducting overflow fuel fire experiments using a single kerosene heater. Additionally, a house fire experiment initiated by a misfueled kerosene heater fire was conducted, and a house fire experiment was simulated using a spatiotemporal FDS. The fire development and spread according to the simulation results agreed well with the experimental results. |
| Key Words:
Kerosene heater, Gasoline misfueling, Fire dynamics simulator, House fire, Fire investigation |
|
PDF Links
Full text via DOI
Download Citation
