The US National Fire Protection Association says one in eleven upholstered furniture fires leads to a death, and that the death rates per furniture fire has nearly doubled since the 1980’s. Death rates for fires starting in mattresses or bedding show a similar in-crease. The number of home fires has been halved since the 1980’s but the probability of dying if a home fire does start has not been re-duced. In the NFPA’s March-April 2020 Journal, Vice-President Lor-raine Carli calls for action towards the furniture fire problem, targeting materials used in furniture, sources of ignition and sprinklers.
“High Consequence. The extreme combustibility of modern furniture is one more reason to embrace home fire sprinklers”, Lorraine Carli, NFPA Vice-President, NFPA Journal March/April 2020 https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Publications-and-media/NFPA-Journal/2020/March-April-2020/Columns/Outreach