Lars Schiøtt Sørensen, SBi, also underlined that fires today burn faster and more intensively than 30-40 years ago, and also that smoke is today more toxic.
This is due to materials present in today’s buildings, both flammable building materials (such as polymers replacing wood for structures, flammable insulation materials) and building content (furniture, decorations, wiring and cables, electronics and other goods). Toxicity of smoke emissions from building materials are today regulated in different countries, but in general not in Europe. For firefighters, this poses issues of both immediate danger, in fire situations, and long term health risks.
Rolff Ripke Leisted, Technical University Denmark, presented 1/5th room-scale testing of construction-condition installations of sandwich panels. The insulation panels tested had 100 mm of insulation material (polyisocyanurate foam or mineral wool) between steel coverings.