Small-scale Fire Testing of DCOI-A Treated Utility Poles
Xing Yang* and Kevin Archer
Viance LLC
Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Abstract
The frequency and severity of wildfires has been increasing in the western United States over the past several years. Several electric utilities have significant financial investment in distribution and transmission pole infrastructure in fire prone areas and there are obvious concerns about the fire resistance of their installed poles. Despite significant effort by the utility industry and fire testing agencies, a standardized fire testing method for utility poles has not been agreed upon. Viance developed a simple in-house procedure based on the industry protocols under development so as to compare the fire performance of DCOI-A treated pole stubs with Penta treated pole stubs. Time to ignition, ignition temperature and char depth data were recorded for both preservative treatments under controlled conditions.
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