This paper presents the results of a survey conducted in the Canadian cities of Ottawa and Gatineau to characterize fire loads in commercial premises. The survey included various commercial establishments such as restaurants, travel agencies, and pharmacies, as well as, retail stores selling clothing, shoes, food, alcohol, computers, and computer supplies. Five different types of combustible material groups were selected as the base of analyses: textiles, plastics, wood/paper, food, and miscellaneous. The data collected were analyzed to determine the total fire load in each establishment, the fire load density, and the contribution of different combustible materials to the total fire load. A total of 168 commercial premises were surveyed with a total floor area of 17127 m2. The area of the surveyed stores ranged from 3.25 to 1707 m2. The fire load densities of the 168 surveyed stores had a lognormal distribution with a mean value of 747 MJ/m2, a maximum value of 5305 MJ/m2, a minimum value of 56 MJ/m2, and a standard deviation of 833 MJ/m2. In most stores, the 95th percentile and the mean fire load density showed a tendency to decrease with an increase of floor area, which is consistent with those of earlier surveys. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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