I-Team: Fires inside newer homes spread faster, can cause more damage
DURHAM (WTVD) -- The age of your home can impact your family's safety during a fire.
The ABC11 I-Team found out new homes and new furniture burn much more quickly than older furniture and older homes.
The Pearsall family found this out the hard way when their home in Wake Forest went up in flames three years ago.
"I could see the flames shooting out the roof when I was driving up the front of the house," homeowner Christie Pearsall said.
"It went very fast, very fast. It was amazing what was damaged and what wasn't damaged," said her husband, John.
The Pearsalls believe the vinyl siding on their house caused it to burn quickly.
Their house was just a few years old.
Fire experts say newer homes burn faster than older ones because newer building materials are more flammable.
To prove this point, the I-Team asked the Holly Springs Fire Department to demonstrate how quickly houses will burn if built with plywood I-beams, which is today's common material, versus old-fashioned lumber. Plywood is made of wood and resins.
The I-Team watched as the lumber burned slowly. However, the plywood I-beam disintegrated in just four-and-a-half-minutes.
"It's a very strong, very sturdy building material. The only problem is when it's exposed to fire, it decreases the time for collapse. So, the time that we would have normally 20 to 30 minutes for potential to collapse is dropped to 8 to 10 minutes," said Chief Leroy Smith of the Holly Springs Fire Department.
"We could be crawling into black smoke with zero visibility and have the floor collapsed in front of us and not know," he added. "It's very worrisome. It's just changed the way that we need to think about how we fight fires."
However, it's not just building materials that burn more quickly -- so does today's furniture. It's made from chemicals -- like polyurethane and hydrocarbons.
Another demonstration showed how quickly the newer synthetic furniture goes up in flames versus antique furniture.
In just a minute-an-a-half, the new furniture was fully engulfed creating what firefighters call "flashover." The antique furniture took more than 13 minutes to "flashover."
"Newer furnishings are constructed with synthetic material which produces 200 times more smoke and heat than fires did about 50 years ago," Chief Smith said. "About 20 years ago, we're looking at about 20 minutes until flashover. Now, we're arriving just as flashover is occurring or just has occurred. That has a profound effect on the occupants in the house."
The American Home Furnishings Alliance, the upholstered industry trade group, says it has been working to make its product more fire resistant. It says the majority of its furniture meets industry flammability standards.
Chief Smith hopes families take precautions before a fire breaks out in their home. He advises they come up with an escape plan, always have working smoke detectors, and think about having fire sprinklers installed in their home.
Click here for tips on how to make an escape plan for your home.
He says the cost is about the same as getting new carpeting.
