Contest: Cigars ablaze!

[buzz]

Brothers and sisters! I got a letter from NCEES notifying me that I PASSED the Fire Protection Engineering exam that I took in October last year. I couldn't be happier and I would like to share my joy by sending some of my favorite sticks to whoever can solve this fire protection question. The person whose answer is the closest will win. In the event of a tie, the person who has the most interesting approach to solving the problem will win. This question is pretty close to one of the ones I had to solve on the test...

Rules:

1. You MUST show your work, but it doesn't have to make sense - be creative.
2. One guess per person.
3. Edited posts are disqualified.
4. No farks allowed, must have at least 50 posts.
5. Contest ends Sunday, January 17 at midnight

You are sound asleep in your bedroom when a crazy ex-girlfriend breaks into your house and finds your humidor. In a jealous rage she dumps all of the cigars from the humidor (a total of 150) in the middle of your living room. The crazy chick then pours some tequila on them, lights them on fire and jumps out the window. Luckily, you installed a fixed temperature heat detector in your living room due to your wife's concerns over the fireplace, which you converted from wood burning to gas last year.

• The average size of the cigars is 5x50 cause you really dig those Robustos.
• The Heat Release Rate of 1 cubic foot of tequila-soaked cigars can be assumed to be 250 BTU/s.
• The inside temperature is 75 degrees F because your wife is always cold.
• The detector alarm temperature is 135 degrees F.
• The ceiling height in the living room is 10 ft and the ceiling is flat.
• The heat detector is located on the living room ceiling, approximately 2 ft. from the centerline of the fire.
• The Response Time Index (RTI) of the heat detector is 100.
• The fire can be assumed to be Steady State.

How many seconds will it take for your heat detector to be set off, awakening you to the nightmare in your living room?

Hint: It will take less than 5 minutes (300 seconds).

Here are the guesses so far (will be updated):
mail man = 133
Eville = 32
slcraiders = 60
SirPuffsAlot = 8
badwhale = 299
cinda = 36
Irish79 = 73


Good luck!
-Buzz