Fire experiment performed on plastic material to study its ignition tendencies
Dr Guillermo Rein from Imperial College London talked to BBC Radio Wales last week about the fire safety of fancy dress costumes.
On the Friday programme “Good Morning Wales”, Dr Rein advised Halloween shoppers to look for fire resisting fabrics, especially if the costumes are intended for kids. “Fireproof”, “fire resistant” and “flame retardant” are amongst the terms parents should seek on the labels of children’s fancy dress outfits.
Due to being currently classified as toys in the UK, costumes for children don’t legally require fire safety testing as rigorous as for clothing items like nightwear. Two years ago, the daughter of TV presenter Claudia Winkleman suffered serious injuries when her Halloween outfit caught fire.
As Dr Guillermo Rein explained, fancy dress costumes tend to use thin synthetic fabrics and frilled designs, which can make them highly flammable.
Dr Rein is Reader in Thermal Energy in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College London. His professional activities are centred on research in heat transfer, combustion and fire, and on teaching thermofluid sciences to engineers. The purpose of his work is to reduce the worldwide burden of accidental fires and protect people, their property, and the environment.
Listen to the full BBC Radio Wales interview with Dr Rein (story starts at 01:06:22)
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Nadia Barbu
Department of Mechanical Engineering
