3. Study of the non-thermal consequences of fire

For almost two decades now, real fires involving electrical equipment, or full-scale tests and studies on models, have highlighted the disastrous consequences of fires involving electrical equipment, which are different from the actual destruction of goods by fire.

At the time, neither regulations nor standardization had taken into account, in France and probably worldwide, what have sometimes been called the "secondary consequences of fire or fire effluents". These are not secondary effects, but often of vital importance. It is gratifying to note that it is in France, and particularly through electrical standardization, that special attention has been paid to these phenomena, since the French experimental standard C 20 - 450 (Behaviour of electrotechnical materials, components and equipment in fire) was published as early as 1982.