Smoke is an important component of wildfires. Specifying the combustion process of different materials allows scientists to better prevent and adopt public health measures. This experimental study contributes to a better characterisation of the smoke emitted by two types of decking, wood and thermoplastic, commonly used in terraces. Emission factors were characterised using a cone calorimeter for different incident fluxes ranging from 10 to 50 kW/m². The study showed that compared to wooden (pine) decking, thermoplastic (polypropylene) decking produces more gases and aerosols, less VOCs, but with a chemical composition that is more carcinogenic.

During a wildfire, combustible exterior building materials, like decking assemblies, may be ignited and cause severe damage or total loss of a dwelling

With global warming and rising occurrence of drought conditions, the risk of fire spreading at Wildland–Urban Interfaces (WUI) increases every year

Among the vectors of fire propagation towards buildings in the WUI, ornamental hedges have been identified as one of the main elements

Wildfires are a major threat to the environment and human populations