Newer homes and furniture burn
faster, giving you
less time to escape a fire.
Research shows that 30 years ago, you had about about 17 minutes to
escape a house fire.
Today it's down
to 3 or 4 minutes. The reason: Newer homes
To demonstrate,
Rossen Reports went to Underwriters Laboratories in Chicago, where two rooms
were built side by side: one a flashback to the '70s or '80s with real wood and
many natural materials, and the other a modern one with a lot of synthetic
fibers, from the curtains to the couch to even the coffee table.
As firefighters
stood by, a fire set to a sofa pillow in the modern room quickly spread across
the sofa and jumped to other furniture: a lamp, an end table, a chair and
coffee table. Within 3 minutes, flames were going through the roof.
Fire set in a modern room with many synthetic fibers spread much faster
than in a comparable room using natural materials popular decades ago.
"The backing
of your carpet is synthetic, your drapes are synthetic, the couch, the pillows
are synthetic," explained John Drengenberg, consumer safety director for
UL. "They burn hotter and faster than natural materials do."
A similar fire
set to the sofa pillow in the room simulating an older home burned for several
minutes without even catching the rest of the sofa. At 15 minutes the room was
still intact; it wound up taking 30 minutes for the room to burn.
The American Home
Furnishings Alliance, an industry group, told NBC News it supports a federal
flammability standard for upholstered furniture, but only if product changes
are safe, effective and affordable.
Until then:
"When your smoke alarm goes off you don't have time to look around, get
your wedding pictures," Drengenberg said. "You get out as quickly as
you can."
The National
Association of Home Builders, another industry group, told NBC News that new
building codes make houses safer. But fire experts say to have a fire escape
plan for your family. The Red Cross has an easy worksheet to
help you create one.
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