ISO 26367-2:2017 specifies a methodology for compiling the information needed to assess the environmental damage caused by a fire incident. This includes conducting a site reconnaissance, establishing data quality objectives and designing sampling programmes. This document also provides a standardized method for reporting the results of the compilation and findings of the analyses, for use in contingency planning or for the assessment of the potential adverse environmental impact of a specific fire incident. This document does not include specific instruction on sampling and analysis of fire effluents. Sampling and analysis are the focus of a future document in the ISO 26367 series.

ISO 26367-2:2017 is applicable to uncontrolled fires, including fires in commercial and domestic premises, unenclosed commercial sites, agricultural storage sites, wildland and forest fires, as well as fires involving road, rail and maritime transport systems.

ISO 26367-2:2017 focuses on the fire effluents that are environmentally significant, including pollutants causing short-term effects (e.g. pollutants causing biotope damage and components of smog) and long-term effects (e.g. persistent organic pollutants, POP). Since it is not possible to treat all potential pollutants that could be found in fire effluents in a single document, a list of those pollutants specifically addressed in this document is given below:

a) pollutants with short-term effects: halogenated acids (HX), metals, nitrogen oxides (NOx), particulates, and sulfur oxides (SOx);

b) pollutants with long-term effects: metals, particulates, perfluorinated compounds (PFC), polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), and polyhalogenated dioxins and furans (PXDD/PXDF).

The reporting template provided in Annex D proposes additional potential pollutants and indicators for inclusion in the compilation. Not all of the pollutants and indicators listed in Table D.1 are relevant to every fire site, and others not mentioned in the table can apply.

ISO 26367-2:2017 does not include direct acute toxicity issues on humans, which are covered by other standards, such as ISO 13344 and ISO 13571.