The NFPA has released a new report, detailing an analysis of the current scientific literature regarding the fire hazard modern vehicles represent to parking garages and marine vessels.

Vehicles have changed significantly over the years. Modern Vehicles present new hazards due to the incorporation of larger quantities of combustible materials (e.g. fuels, plastics, synthetic materials, etc.) into their designs. As alternative fuel vehicles are popularised, concerns regarding their unique hazards, burn characteristics, and typical burn duration have been raised.

Compared to older vehicles, modern vehicles burn differently. Modern parking garages have optimised space requirements for vehicle parking and storage and often implement automated retrieval features and car stacking, which presents unique hazards as well. Thus, it raises the question if the safety infrastructure of these parking structures and vehicle carriers (i.e. maritime vessels) have kept pace.

Vehicle fires in parking structures developing into large, out of control incidents are fairly rare and the rate of civilian injuries is low. However, fires in parking structures can lead to significant economic losses, as evidenced by recent fires at Liverpool’s Echo Arena in the UK and Stavanger Airport in Norway. These incidents involved hundreds of automobiles and resulted in severe structural damage.

Visit https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Data-research-and-tools/Building-and-Life-Safety/Modern-Vehicle-Hazards-in-Parking-Garages-Vehicle-Carriers to download the report.