Up in Flames: why new homes burn faster than older ones
More than 365,000 homes will go up in flames this year.
The homes that are newer will burn five to eight times faster than homes built in the 1970s or earlier.
Colorado Springs Fire Captain Steve Wilch said that means people now have three minutes or less to get out of their homes safely.
“It used to be that the fires would double in size every minute. Now, they double in size every 30 seconds,” Wilch explained.
Investigators at Underwriters Laboratories, the largest and best known independent safety testing company, put it to the test.
They set up a modern room with a new couch and furniture next to a “Legacy” room, meant to represent a room from the 1960s with an older couch.
Investigators set fire to both couches and turned on the timer.
Within 30 seconds, there was enough smoke in both rooms to set off the smoke alarms.
Within 90 seconds, the couch is very involved and the flames beginning to spread to the curtain. The smoke is turning black. Meanwhile, the fire is still contained to the couch in the Legacy room.
By three minutes and 30 seconds, there is flashover in the modern room. It’s completely filled with black smoke and large flames. But the flames are barely spreading to the curtains in the Legacy Room.
It takes more than 29 minutes for flashover in the Legacy room.
KRDO Newschannel 13 took Captain Wilch to a newly built home to find out why these houses burn so quickly.
He said it starts with the bones of the building.
“Modern building materials use a lightweight and smaller composite wood. It’s mean to be strong and affordable, but it burns and collapses faster in the event of a fire,” Wilch said.
He said it’s also because of what we have in it, like our couches, children’s toys, and even our plates.
“We used to have real wood furniture with cotton batting that would take longer to burn, but now, most things are made from plastic and synthetic materials, which burn faster and hotter,” he said.
Modern open-concept layouts are also to blame, because they allow the smoke to move easily and build very heavily.
Most house fires start in the kitchen, on the stove. Captain Wilch said within just 90 seconds of the fire starting, most kitchens will completely filled with smoke and the smoke will be moving to the next room.
“The flames will travel up to the cabinets and have no problem burning right through them,” Wilch said.
Captain Wilch said because the fires move so fast nowadays, people need to get out of the house as soon as they hear the alarm.
“There isn’t time to grab anything but your loved ones. Backup your pictures and documents online so you don’t have to worry about them, because no thing is as valuable as a life,” he said.
It’s advice that homeowner Aneta Lavene said she hadn’t thought about.
“You don’t plan for fires, but this was eye-opening,” she said. “I’m going to make sure we have an escape plan now.”
Wilch said to make sure you have a smoke alarm in every bedroom, close doors at night, and know of two exits you can use in case of a fire.
