Fire Hazard Assessment for Transportation Vehicles

One of the areas in which fire hazard assessment techniques have been applied within regulation is for transportation vehicles. In particular, commercial aviation and passenger rail have utilized fire hazard assessment as a means to achieve safety goals well before these techniques became common in buildings. This chapter will review the methods employed and the recent evolution of predictive tools specific to transportation. The reader should refer to the general chapter on Fire Hazard Analysis for an introduction to the basic principles. The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) has developed a Standard Guide for Fire Hazard Assessment of Rail Transportation Vehicles, ASTM XXXX.i This document provides a detailed procedure for the conduct and documentation of a fire hazard assessment including specific design fire scenarios that should be considered.