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As a journalist, some stories never leave you. In 2005, while working at the Herald on Sunday, I reported on the deaths of two young brothers, two and four years old, in a house fire.
They had found matches or a lighter early in the morning while their mother was asleep. A forensic investigation determined that they accidentally ignited a couch, most likely made from flexible polyurethane foam (FPUF). Within minutes, the house was engulfed. The intense heat and choking fumes prevented anyone from reaching the boys.
I vividly remember arriving at the property with the acrid stench of burnt timber in the air, then seeing small children’s clothes still on the line outside. It remains one of the most distressing memories of my career.
Nearly 20 years later, that memory came rushing back as I read Coroner Borrowdale’s report into the death of 16-year-old Lizzy Marvin. Her family’s Burnham home burned down in May 2024 after a stray spark from the fireplace set alight a fold-out sofa bed, also made of FPUF. The fire spread so fast Lizzy became trapped in an upstairs room, where she died from smoke inhalation.
Although firefighters arrived within 11 minutes, the blaze was already described as “too dangerous and hot for fire crews to enter.” FENZ officer Eggers reported: “The heat being emitted from the fire was unbelievable. We were able to feel it from about 10 or so metres away.”
The similarities with 2005 are notable. Then, the first crews arrived in just six minutes, yet found the house already a mass of flames. The fire chief warned at the time that extreme heat had become common in house fires because of FPUF in modern furniture: “That’s the type of energy force you’re dealing with. People just don’t stand a chance.”
Coroner Borrowdale’s analysis cited a further case in 2010, where Coroner Scott found that a New Plymouth man died after falling asleep and dropping a lit cigarette onto a FPUF couch. Again, the speed and intensity of the fire prevented any rescue.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) says the average FPUF three-piece suite has the combustible potential of 10 litres of fuel while MBIE notes that where it once took 30 minutes for a room to be fully involved in fire, FPUF furniture has cut escape time to just three to four minutes.
Moreover, a MBIE policy statement notes that when FPUF catches fire, vast amounts of flammable fire gases are quickly released, so that there is insufficient oxygen. Superheated flammable and toxic gases quickly spread and ignite, causing the fire to extend to other rooms.
This raises the obvious question: why, despite repeated tragedies, does New Zealand still have no smoulder-resistant regulations for furniture or requirements for fire-retardant FPUF?
In 2019, then Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Kris Faafoi released a Product Safety Policy Statement acknowledging the risks of FPUF furniture. Among other guidelines, it recommended that retailers advise customers on fire resistance, and warned that if the industry failed to act, regulation would be considered. But the statement was non-binding.
In her report, Coroner Borrowdale notes that the industry did not act, and MBIE has not recommended regulation, taking the position that the cost of regulation outweighs the benefits.
A 2024 MBIE review admitted that although 40 to 70 percent of New Zealand furniture contains FPUF, and despite clear evidence of risk, manufacturers have made minimal effort to adopt safer technologies. One major retailer openly admitted cost was the reason for ignoring the guidance.
However, in the same guidance, MBIE notes that even with alarms, a FPUF fueled fire can “outpace a person’s ability to respond.”
Coroner Borrowdale urges the public to watch a MBIE demonstration video that starkly illustrates how rapidly these fires spread.
Her recommendations are clear: MBIE should abandon its passive stance, design regulations to restrict hazardous foam, establish warning standards for consumers, and advise the Minister to act.
“It will take time and money to replace the country’s hazardous furniture, but the need plainly exists, and Lizzy’s tragic premature death shows us that,” she said. Having witnessed the aftermath of one of these fires, I find it staggering that 20 years on, more families have had to endure the same devastating loss, yet the industry and government still delays acting to protect consumers.
Watch FENZ FPUF fire demonstration www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DCAHEVXHvU&t=4s
