Content area
Full text
A REVIEW OF THE FMRC loss database indicates that there were 220 fires in pulp and paper mills insured by Allendale, Arkwright and Protection Mutual over a recent five - year period. Cable was the cause of the fire or was directly involved in 18 fire incidents. Due to deductibles, a large number of small fires are not reported.
While the number of incidents involving cable is small relative to the total number of fires, a breakdown by dollar amount of the loss shows that 33% of the dollar value of losses involved cable. The primary reason for the high dollar value was that all losses reported involved lost production due to shutdown of major equipment such as boilers and paper machines, Table I. Approximately 22% of the average loss involving cable was due to property damage, while 78% was due to interruption to production.
The causes of cable fires were as follows:
Electrical fault -- five incidents;
Cutting and welding -- four incidents;
Ignition of wood dust which in turn ignited cable -- four incidents; Oil fire which in turn ignited cable -- three incidents;
Unknown -- four incidents.
In some of these incidents, a passive form of protection such as a fire - resistive cable insulation or a fire - resistive coating would have either prevented the fire or substantially reduced the amount of cable damaged by the fire, Table II.
PASSIVE PROTECTION
From review of the loss reports, it appeared that approximately nine incidents could have been prevented or damage substantially reduced by the use of a low flamespread cable or a cable coating.
Low flamespread cable insulation: To determine whether cable flamespread is low, a fire test needs to be done. After a major nuclear plant fire in the US (the Browns Ferry Station of TVA, 1975) it became apparent that substantial improvements were needed in test methods used to determine cable flammability.
This led a major U.S. utility to develop its own cable test which consisted of a vertical cable tray exposed to a fire from a rag soaked in transformer oil. The test was later better defined in terms of spacing of the cable on the cable tray (1/2 cable diameter apart) and the rag was replaced by...