Overview
SIST ISO 19701:2018 (identical to ISO 19701:2013) specifies methods for sampling and chemical analysis of fire effluents - the gases produced by combustion in fire tests. The standard focuses on laboratory sampling from test rigs or physical fire test models and sets out procedures to present representative, analysable samples from hostile fire atmospheres to analytical instrumentation. It explicitly excludes aerosols and FTIR techniques and does not address the specific nature of individual fire tests.
Key technical topics and requirements
- Sampling fundamentals and best practice
- Emphasis on representative sampling, minimal disturbance of the test atmosphere and quantification of sampling losses (probes, lines, filters).
- Considerations for concentration vs. volume fraction, temperature and pressure corrections, and avoidance of condensation or probe blockage.
- Sampling approaches
- Gas–solution absorbers, solid sorption tubes, spectrometric/spectrophotometric sampling, and gas bag collection.
- Analytical methods for fire gases (clause highlights)
- Instrumental techniques such as NDIR for carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2), paramagnetic oxygen measurement, HPIC for sulfur dioxide (SO2), and GC–MS for species like carbon disulfide.
- Specific methods for toxic and corrosive species: hydrogen cyanide (HCN), hydrogen chloride (HCl), hydrogen fluoride (HF), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), aldehydes (formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acrolein), hydrocarbons, isocyanates, and various metals by AAS or ICP.
- Supportive annexes
- Annex A: techniques unsuitable for fire effluents
- Annex B: aspirated chemical colour‑change tubes
- Annex C: summary of quantitative instrumental methods
- Annex D: continuous HF measurement (ion selective electrode)
- Safety and uncertainty
- Strong safety guidance for handling toxic gases and reagents and advice on estimating measurement uncertainty from instrument data and sampling losses.
Practical applications
- Conducting toxic hazard and life‑threat assessments during fire testing.
- Chemical characterization of effluents from material and product fire tests for fire safety research, regulatory compliance, and environmental impact studies.
- Generating validated compositional data to inform evacuation models, smoke toxicity evaluations, and product certification.
Who should use this standard
- Fire testing laboratories and test-rig operators
- Fire safety researchers and toxicologists
- Manufacturers of building materials, furnishings, and consumer products
- Regulatory bodies and standards developers
- Environmental monitoring and analytical chemistry labs involved in combustion studies
Related standards and notes
- Normative reference: ISO 13943 - Fire safety: Vocabulary.
- SIST ISO 19701 is the Slovenian adoption of ISO 19701:2013. Future ISO work is expected to cover additional environmental species (PAHs, dioxins, etc.).
Keywords: ISO 19701, fire effluents, sampling and analysis, fire gases, toxic gas measurement, fire testing, sampling methods, analytical methods.
