J. APPLIED FIRE SCIENCE, Vol.

10(2) 157-178, 2000-2001

REVIEW ON HEAT RELEASE RATE FOR FIRES

IN SMALL RETAIL SHOPS*

W. K. CHOW
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

ABSTRACT
There are many retail shops in Hong Kong. Fire safety for those of small size
and located in crowded shopping malls should be considered carefully. This
applies also to the retail shops in terminal buildings and public transport
interchanges. To answer the question “how large is a fire?” in a retail shop, the
heat release rates of possible fires should be estimated. Combustibles include
commodities and products stored, decoration materials, and furnishings. The
heat release rates of these combustibles as appearing in the literature were
used to estimate the rate of heat released by burning those materials. The
likelihood of flashover in a retail shop was investigated. The effects of
reducing the heat release rate by a sprinkler for a number of scenarios were
also estimated.

INTRODUCTION
There are many small retail shops in Hong Kong located in crowded shopping
malls and areas such as terminals and public transport interchanges. Because
of the high price of land, in the order of US$400 to US$800 per square foot,
and rental price US$8 to US$10 per square foot in districts with many
shopping centers like Mongkok, most of the shops are small in size and fully
packed with goods to be sold. Fire safety in these areas needs to be considered
carefully.

*This project is supported by the PolyU Area of Strategic Development in Advanced Buildings
Technology in a Dense Urban Environment.

157
 2001, Baywood Publishing Co., Inc.
158 / CHOW

A fundamental question [1] is:

How large is the fire?
To answer this, the heat release rate of burning combustibles in small retail
shops should be studied [2]. Single burning items should be studied first with
efforts [3] paid to studying the total heat release rate. Some values appearing in the
literature are:
C Constant fire such as that used for shopping malls [4, 5]:
– Heat release rate of 5 MW or 2.5 MW with sprinkler
– Fire size of 3 m by 3 m
C NFPA t2-fire [6] with the heat release rate Q (in kW) given in terms of time t
(in s) and a constant tg (in s):

Note that there might be an incubation period before Q is reached in the above
equation.
– tg is 600 s for a slow t2-fire.
– tg is 300 s for a medium t2-fire which is similar to a fire resulting from burning
cotton/polyester innerspring mattresses, full mail bags, pallet stacks of 1 m
high, counters or office furniture distributed horizontally.
– tg is 150 s for a fast t2-fire such as fires due to wood pallets 1.5 m high,
cartons of 4 m high with various contents, displays, and padded work-station
partitioning.
– tg is 75 s for an ultra t2-fire such as burning plywood wardrobes, upholstered
furniture, light-weight furnishing, and non-fire retarded plastic foam storage.

C Further, some data on the maximum heat release rate reported by different
research workers are quoted in NFPA 92B [6]:
– Wastepaper baskets of mass 0.73 to 1.04 kg: 4 to 18 kW
– Curtains with velvet/cotton of mass 1.9 kg: 160 to 240 kW
– Curtains with acrylics/cotton of mass 1.4 kg: 130 to 150 kW
– TV sets of mass 27 to 33 kg: 120 to 290 kW
– Chair mock up of mass 1.36 kg: 63 to 66 kW
– Sofa mock up of mass 2.8 kg: 130 kW
– Arm chair of mass 26 kg: 160 kW
The best way to develop these values is through use of an “industry calorimeter”
[7, 8] to burn an actual retail shop similar to that used to study how much heat was
released in burning an office workstation [9]. This is far too expensive, though
 HEAT RELEASE RATE FOR FIRES IN SMALL RETAIL SHOPS / 159

funding might be allocated, if necessary. A more feasible method at this pre-

liminary stage of study is to consider [e.g., 2, 3] estimating heat release rates from
data appearing in the literature.

COMBUSTIBLES IN A SMALL RETAIL SHOP

As reported by Hume in studies of life safety measures in shop fires [10], goods
on display might include highly combustible materials which would support rapid
fire growth. If the shops do not have sprinklers, storing high fire loads might give
problems. A survey on the shops in some retail areas was carried out. Shops of
low fire load density and with sufficient spacings between combustibles are
preferred. Those storing high fire load density with congestion problems should
be monitored. Arrangement of materials supporting a rapid spreading fire is of
the utmost concern. Examples of those goods are identified as: plastic toys in
blister packaging stored in vertical stacks, paper boxes and hanging arms, soft
toys, pillows on wire display baskets, video cassettes and CD displays, sweets
and candies in plastic bags, and sportswear jackets on plastic hangers with plastic
bags for keeping out the dust.
For local small retail areas, the above combustibles are found. But for those
located in terminal halls, there are restrictions imposed by management teams on
the types of goods to be sold. Some terminals will only allow the storage of the
following combustibles:
• Newspapers and magazines
• Cigarettes and tobacco
• Alcohols, might be stored up to 75 R
• Shoe repairing and polishing
• Clothing in cleaning collection points
• Furniture including polyurethane sofas or cushions, coffee tables with wood
or other timber products and chairs
However, there might also be control on materials used in the retail shops of
some terminals:
• Only class 1 materials under surface spread of flame test, BS476 Part 7 [11],
are allowed.
• No fiberglass to be used.
• Flammable aerosols not to be used in hair salons.
Full-scale burning tests should be carried out for the following to investigate the
possible hazardous arrangements that support the results by Hume [10]:
• Toys in blister packs, on hanging arms against walls
• Tights on carton, on hanging arms against the wall
• Soft toys arranged in large piles
160 / CHOW

• Video cassettes displayed in metal shelves or plastic racks

• Packets of crisps displayed on open wire mesh shelving
• Clothing including jackets with plastic bags on metal arms against the wall
• Alcohol stacks with bottles
• Stacks of shoes without boxes
• Furniture

REVIEW OF HEAT RELEASE RATES CURVES

FOR PRODUCTS
As reviewed by Garrad and Smith [12], the “design fire scenario” is one of
the primary uncertainties in fire safety engineering. A design fire depends on
the use of the building and the materials used and stored, therefore, it cannot
be decided without understanding the combustibles present. The following are
results reported in the literature (see Table 1).
C Design fires from results measured by large-scale fire tests were reported by
Garrad and Smith [12]. Experiments were carried out in a sprinklered calorim-
eter of 7 m long by 6 m wide with the following heat release rate curves reported:
– Soft toy mountain fires
Placed on medium density fiberboard, 340 toys of total mass 46 kg and
259 toys with total mass 35.5 kg, at 950 mm high for the first test. The heat
release rate curve followed a NFPA medium t2-fire with an incubation period
of 60 s.
– Unused pallet fires
Six stacks of mixed wooden pallets of about 167 kg up to 1325 mm high
were used for the test. The heat release rate curve can be approximated by a
NFPA fast t2-fire with an incubation period of 120 s.
– Stacked cardboard box fires
Six 2.1 m high stacks of cardboards in two rooms. Each cardboard stack of
mass 2.7 kg with non-combustible goods, but a small amount of expanded
polystyrene racks. This is similar to a NFPA ultra-fast t2-fire after a long
incubation period.
The heat release rate curves with and without sprinkler acting for various fires
are shown in Figures 1 and 2. Note that an electric ignition system with
menthylated spirits was used as the ignition source. There is no radiation heat
flux applied to test the samples as in a cone calorimeter.
C Real fire scenarios were studied by Ghosh [13]:
– Fires in a supermarket
Fires in packets of crisps in a 4 m long gondola produced a rapidly
 HEAT RELEASE RATE FOR FIRES IN SMALL RETAIL SHOPS / 161

developing fire, reaching 4200 kW in 390 s. There was an incubation period

of 120 s; a fast t2-fire can be fitted from 120 s to 300 s; an ultra-fast
t2-fire from 300 s to 360 s and a fire more rapid than ultra-fast t2-fire from
360 s to 390 s.
For a fire lighter and kitchen rolls, the heat release rate curve lies between
a medium t2-fire and a fast t2-fire.
– Fire in carpet displays
A medium t2-fire with an incubation period of 120 s.
– Fires in libraries
Three tests were reported with the first test being halfway between a slow
and a medium t2-fire with an incubation period of 70 to 100 s. Changing the
places of ignition for the other two tests gave a very slow t2-fire.
– Fires in video stores
The heat release rate curve is slightly slower than a fast t2-fire with an
incubation period of 70 s.
– Fires in liquor stores
Between a slow and a medium t2-fire.
C There were also tests of products of different commodity classes using the
Industry Calorimeter in Sweden reported by Persson [14]. Heat release rates of
the tested commodities were:
– C1: Paper cartons on wood pallets
– C2: Magazine files stored in paper cartons on wood pallets
– C3: Cushions stored in paper cartons on wood pallets
– C4: Polystyrene (PS) chips stored in paper cartons on wood pallets
– C5: Empty thermoplastic polyester (PET) bottles stored in plastic crates on
wood pallets
– C6 to C8: Plastic grouped under European and American standards [15-17].
The commodities were stacked up to 6 m high. Such arrangements should only
be found in warehouses or stores. However, as land is so expensive in Hong
Kong, storekeepers might keep large quantities of combustibles to save money.
As a result, arrangements like those in the Swedish tests [14] might result. The
measured heat release rate can be used to estimate the “maximum” peak heat
release rate in a small retail shop.
Sprinklers were operated against the burning items at different values of water
density delivered at different times of operation.
The total mass mT (kg) of the burned items for each test including all the
products, cartons and pallets; the convective heat release rate at nozzle operation
for discharging water QC (kW); the maximum one-minute average of the total
162 / CHOW

Table 1. Summary of Results of Some Combustibles

Qburn/kW tburn/s

Soft toy mountain fires, Garrad and Smith [12] 1000 800

Idle pallet fires, Garrad and Smith [12] 3400 300

Stacked cardboard boxes fires, Garrad and 1600 400

Smith [12] 3000 50

Commodity, Persson [14]:

C1 4000 250
3000 300
2000 450
1000 750

C2 5000 250
4000 300
3000 500
2000 600
1000 650

C3 4000 500
3000 550
2000 600
1000 650

C4 6000 180
5000 200
4000 240
3000 260
2000 300
1000 360

C5 5000 420
4000 450
3000 480
2000 640
1000 700

C6 5000 80
4000 200
3000 360
2000 420
1000 750
 HEAT RELEASE RATE FOR FIRES IN SMALL RETAIL SHOPS / 163

Table 1. (Cont’d.)

Qburn/kW tburn/s

C7 3000 100
2000 180
1000 400

C8 6000 260
5000 300
4000 330
3000 480
2000 420
1000 450

Scotch pine Christmas tree fires, Stroup et al. [18] 2000 35

3000 30
4000 25

heat release rate with sprinkler QAT (kW); the maximum one-minute average of
the convective heat release rate QAC (kW); and the water delivered density WDD
(mm·min–1) for each test measured by Persson [14] are shown in Table 2.
Typical total and convective heat release curves at different WDD are shown in
Figures 3 and 4.

C Another type of fire might occur during festivals where spaces are decorated. An
example is burning Christmas trees in a shopping mall. Studies on Scotch Pine
Christmas tree fires under the main exhaust hood [8] were reported by Stroup
et al. [18] in the Fire Research Laboratory of the National Institute of Standards
and Technology (NIST). Weights of the trees were from 9.5 kg to 28.1 kg, with
heights of 2.3 m to 3.1 m, widths (between widest points) from 1.1 m to 1.7 m,
and moisture contents of 25 percent to 36 percent. Peak heat release rates ranged
from 1.6 MW to 5.2 MW with an example shown in Figure 5.

C Extensive studies on upholstered furniture have been carried out over the past
ten years. Earlier studies included the exponential model as reviewed in the
literature [19]. Based on the results from a furniture calorimeter, the heat release
rate of a single item of burning furniture can be described by a curve of
triangular shape with the peak heat release rate QP (in kW) modeled by either
generic material identification; or based on bench-scale measurements. One
of the recent studies on the subject is the project on Combustion Behaviour of
Upholstered Furniture (CBUF) in Europe [20, 21]. The heat release rate of
upholstered furniture can be predicted by testing the composite samples in a
 164 / CHOW
Figure 1. Heat release rate curves reported by Garrad and Smith [12].
 HEAT RELEASE RATE FOR FIRES IN SMALL RETAIL SHOPS / 165
Figure 2. Heat release curves with sprinkler reported by Garrad and Smith [12].
166 / CHOW

Table 2. Summary Results of Tests by Persson [14]

Commodities Qc/kW QAT/kW QCT/kW WDD/mm min–1
product
mT/kg Min Max Min Max Min Max Min Max

C1 118 3760 3850 5050 5200 2840 3210 8.5 12.6

C2 104 3730 3850 4860 9700 2330 4900 8.5 12.6
C3 67 4050 4110 4800 6180 2580 3100 15.9 20.8
C4 36.5 1140 5830 7810 8770 2910 3280 15.9 20.8
C5 106 3710 4060 5760 11000 2150 6100 12.6 15.9
C6 64.5 4090 4550 5910 10400 2600 5300 12.6 15.9
C7 81 4030 4190 5780 6420 2670 3150 12.6 15.9
C8 64 2580 2650 3230 3340 2050 2140 9.5 12.6

cone calorimeter with three models: statistically-correlated factors; burning

area-convolution technique; and a thermal fire spread model for mattresses.
C Further, as reviewed later by Höglander and Sundström [22], CBUF furniture
can be further classified into domestic and contract (public). The heat release
rate Qfurn (in kW) can be expressed in terms of time t (in minutes) as:

where Qfo is 2500 kW, kfl is 0.4 min–2 and tfl is 3 min for domestic upholstered
furniture; and Qfo is 1500 kW, kfl is 0.2 min–2, and tfl is 4 min for contract (public)
upholstered furniture.

USE OF RESULTS
As pointed out by Lei et al. [23] in studying karaoke fires experimentally, the
small size of a karaoke box might lead to a higher fire risk. A possible explanation
is due to the likelihood of flashover as reported by Babrauskas and Walton [19] in
their study of heat release rate for upholstered furniture fires. An equation on the
minimum heat release rate Qmf (in kW) causing flashover proposed by Thomas
[24] can be used for a small shop of length L (in m), width W (in m), and height H
(in m); and for an opening of area Av (in m2) and height Hv (in m):
 HEAT RELEASE RATE FOR FIRES IN SMALL RETAIL SHOPS / 167
Figure 3. Total heat release rate reported by Persson [14].
 168 / CHOW
Figure 4. Convective heat release rate reported by Persson [14].
 HEAT RELEASE RATE FOR FIRES IN SMALL RETAIL SHOPS / 169
Figure 5. Scotch pine Christmas tree fires reported by Stroup et al. [18].
170 / CHOW
 HEAT RELEASE RATE FOR FIRES IN SMALL RETAIL SHOPS / 171
Figure 6. Theoretical calculation of heat reduction by sprinkler for soft toy mountain fire.
172 / CHOW
HEAT RELEASE RATE FOR FIRES IN SMALL RETAIL SHOPS / 173

Figure 7. Shop fire (scenario 1).

 174 / CHOW
Figure 8. Shop fire (scenario 2).
 HEAT RELEASE RATE FOR FIRES IN SMALL RETAIL SHOPS / 175

CONCLUSION

The possible heat release rates of burning stored combustibles in local retail
shop fires were estimated. Possible fire scenarios in small retail shops were
discussed with the design fire calculated using a method similar to that used by
Höglander and Sundström [22]. The likelihood of flashover in the shop was
studied. Results indicate that poor selection of surface lining materials might give
a high heat release rate. Partitioning a retail shop into different areas for larger
shops should be considered carefully. Materials used should be treated with fire
retardant as shown in scenario 1 shop fire.
Research [34, 35] on the flame spreading of partition materials, and the require-
ments and specification for choosing them should be carried out as soon as
possible. Results would be useful in modifying the existing building fire safety
codes [e.g., 36-39] to the new generation of engineering performance-based
fire codes [40].
The points of concern are:

• Likelihood of flashover [24, 25] in the fire shop and consequences of occur-
rence should be watched. The heat release rates of combustibles stored in the
shop are key factors [10]. Storing products of heat release rate higher than Qmf
given by equation (3) should be monitored carefully.
• Effectiveness of operating sprinkler system [26-30] in controlling a fire
should be considered and water mist system be used if necessary.
• Fire safety management programs [41-43], including training of the store-
keepers and the building management staff, are to be worked out carefully.
For example, keeping a fire to be smaller than the design fires for sizing the
sprinkler and smoke extraction systems should be ensured.

All points should be analyzed carefully to provide total fire safety. Both fire
simulations and full-scale burning tests on selected designs of the shop should be
performed so that key issues on fire safety can be identified. It is difficult to work
out fire safety regulations, and recommend good fire safety management without
in-depth studies.

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 178 / CHOW

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Direct reprint requests to:

W. K. Chow
Department of Building Services Engineering
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Hong Kong, China

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