Modern homes are firetraps?

Cory Doctorow 4:56 am Sat Jan 29, 2011

A Canadian wire-service article claims that modern composite materials used in house construction drastically accelerates the pace of house-fires when compared with traditional solid wood and other materials.

What that means for firefighters is the amount of time they can safely be inside a house on fire has dropped from about 17 minutes to three minutes or less.

That's when flashover happens — the moment when a room or building is fully engulfed in flames…

[Ottawa Fire spokesman Marc Messier] said unlike 30 years ago, when homes, furniture and appliances were made of solid wood and steel, modern day versions are made with glue, plastics and synthetic materials.

Such synthetics not only burn faster but produce carcinogenic emissions as they burn.

"One of the biggest examples is floor joists," said Messier, who himself dabbles in home renovations.

"They used to be 2x8s and 2x10s, and now we're looking at composite materials which for the most part are made of wood particles, mixed in with glue. They're cheaper, which is probably why the industry is using these products."

New homes burn faster

(Thanks, Fipi Lele!)

(Image: House on Fire, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from dvs's photostream)

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