Durban - A university professor has warned that there is a chance, however small, that starch powder, as thrown into the air at events such as The Color Run, could catch fire.
The warning came after nearly 500 people at the Taiwan “colour party” were injured this week when decorative powder used at the event ignited. A 20-year-old woman later died.
The Taiwan partygoers were sprayed with clouds of multicoloured corn starch. It has been reported by international media that heat from the stage lighting or cigarettes are thought to have ignited the starch.
The South African organisers of The Color Run, which is to take place in Durban on July 12, said all the powder used in its events had been tested for flammability and had successfully passed EU standards.
The powder used by the local event comprised 99% starch and 1% colouring - and was 100% safe and certified as non-flammable, said Trevor Latimer, The Color Run’s national project manager.
In an e-mail to The Mercury the international organisers pointed out that there were major differences between their events and the unassociated one in Taiwan.
The organisers said no blasting machine would be used at South African events. The powder was distributed by hand and if the guidelines and procedures were followed the powder was safe “as evidenced by the fact that we have conducted over 500 events with over 4 million participants without a single fire-related incident”.
Organisers said the strict safety measures and protocols included:
* No electrical devices to distribute the powder;
* The powder had been tested for safe public use;
* A gap was required between stages and the public; and
* Smoking was prohibited in the festival area.
The Color Run was founded three years ago, and is billed as an event that promotes healthiness and happiness by bringing communities together to participate in the “Happiest 5km on the Planet”. It is a 5km, untimed race in which thousands of participants are doused in different colours at each kilometre. After the race, there is music, dancing, and colour throwing.
However, a local professor of physical chemistry told The Mercury that while the probability of the decorative powder made of 99% starch and 1% colouring catching fire was low, even in the dry winter weather, it would still be taking a chance.
Professor Igor Nikolayenko, of the school of chemistry and physics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, said it was “nonsense” to claim that starch was not flammable in the state of aerosol - when it was dispersed in the air as a fine powder, including when the powder was thrown into the air.
Nikolayenko said any combustible substance (including starch, flour, and coal) dispersed as a fine dust was potentially explosive.
He said fine starch powder was combustible, and was likely not to ignite only if damp, compacted, or impregnated with a fire retardant additive. Flour dust was also flammable, as evidenced by explosions at flour mills in the past.
The probability of a decorative powder made of 99% starch and 1% colouring catching fire was low, even in the dry winter weather, but one would still be taking a chance, Nikolayenko said.
“Any starch dispersed as an aerosol is flammable, and in a dangerous manner.”
He added that if people were to throw decorative powder made of starch at each other and in the air, it would be safer to do so in a humid environment, and he would refrain from doing so if there was static electricity at the time.
The Mercury