Call for regulation of foam-filled furniture after teen's death in blaze

A Canterbury teenager likely died because the government has failed to protect against the unsafe furniture now common in New Zealand homes, a coroner has found.

Lizzy Marvin, 16, died after inhaling the toxic fumes which spewed through her Burnham home after embers from a fireplace landed on a foam-filled sofa bed on May 8 last year.

Coroner Mary-Anne Borrowdale has chastised the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), describing its hands-off approach to regulating foam-filled furniture as deplorable.

She also took aim at the government, saying its decision to continue with a non-binding policy statement over mandatory regulation is the "triumph of hope over experience".

Lizzy's mother Anne-Marie Marvin told RNZ she had no idea of the danger she was bringing into her home when she bought the brand-new sofa bed in March 2023.

RNZ has requested interviews with MBIE, Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Scott Simpson, Fire and Emergency, and others. However, none were available and instead provided written statements or declined to comment.

In 2010, Coroner Tim Scott called for reform after Ricky Neill died in similar circumstances when a foam-filled couch went up in flames in a New Plymouth house the previous year.

In 2019 the then-Labour government investigated regulating such products before deciding on non-binding industry guidance.

"If regulations had been made in 2019 — or at any time before Ms Marvin bought this sofa bed in 2023 — it is likely that Lizzy would still be alive today. She died because an unsafe product was sold and was brought unwittingly into her home, by a parent who had no idea of the fire risk she was running," Borrowdale said.

"As it is, more people could well die from the same cause — this risk will remain unabated until mandatory product safety and warning standards are imposed."

Anne-Marie told RNZ she was still coming to terms with the loss of her daughter. She said it still did not feel real.

"She just loved everybody and wanted to make sure that everybody was having a good time or was okay," she said.

"She was animal mad — had a horse, dog, cats. She also kept birds and rats. She was a very bubbly person and I think that's probably what I miss the most because she was always quite chatty, always knew how everybody felt. If she came into work, she'd always go and give one of the girls a big hug. She was a big hugger and just liked making sure that everybody was good, in a happy place. That was just her personality."

The coroner ruled it was most likely embers from the fireplace of the rented two-storey Toanui St flat sparked and landed on a sofa bed, while Anne-Marie was stoking the fire early on May 8, 2024.

She had been sleeping on the sofa bed in the lounge since January as, in addition to her daughter and 19-year-old son, 18-year-old family friend Kahn Peachey was also living at the house while he studied in Christchurch.

"It just hit the back of the sofa and, cause I had a mink blanket on it — boom," Anne-Marie said.

"And of course I tried to put it out with a cushion, which probably then fanned it, but there was no chance. I literally watched it go in on itself and melt in front of me."

Coroner: Teen’s death avoidable if foam furniture regulated - Watch on TVNZ+

It took only seconds for fire to erupt through the lounge.

Anne-Marie called upstairs to her children and Peachey to alert them to the fire.

She saw Lizzy on the stairs. It was the last time Anne-Marie would see her daughter.

"I remember her coming down because I remembered what she was wearing and her hair was all piled on her head, which I discovered later was because she just dyed her hair and I said 'we've got to get out'. And I still don't know why I said this but 'oh, we need to get a bucket of water to get the fire out'. The whole room was up and what was the bucket of water going to do?

"And, yeah, the last thing I saw her coming down the stairs she was on the phone, so I knew that she must be on the phone to the fire brigade. In that instant I turned my back and went into the laundry room, which was by the back door. I thought she'd got out, but she'd obviously made the decision to go back upstairs."

Her son Michael fled the house via a fire escape, while Peachey climbed out of his window and was able to get from the roof of the flaming house to a neighbouring roof.

It was while on the street outside the house that Anne-Marie realised Lizzy was still inside.

"We went across the street and I just remember realising she's not there and I think that's when I terrified the whole neighbourhood because I screamed. But, and I don't remember this, but my next door neighbour said I tried to get back into the house and down the corridor several times, but to this day I don't remember any of that," Anne-Marie said.

The coroner's report revealed Lizzy's final moments as she took shelter in her bedroom while speaking to emergency services.

"On the phone, Lizzy told the emergency call-taker that there was a fire in her house and that she was upstairs and could not get out," Borrowdale said.

"When asked what was on fire, Lizzy said, 'the whole house basically'. She was upstairs on the second floor and there were only windows. The call-taker assured Lizzy that help was coming and to get down low. Within two minutes Lizzy was breathing very heavily, and after two and a half minutes Lizzy was essentially unresponsive. The call-taker stayed on the line for 10 minutes, trying to comfort Lizzy and elicit a response."

Anne-Marie said reading that was the hardest part for her.

"To this day we'll probably never know quite why she went back upstairs. But the fact that dispatch talked to her quite a bit and then they carried on talking to her even though they'd lost contact with her, I don't know quite how they do that sort of job. But it must have been pretty tough for them knowing that they've lost contact with someone and knowing that really there's nothing that can be done."

The fire — its heat, ferocity and speed — was unlike anything Anne-Marie had ever witnessed before.

"The windows were exploding and things were falling down as me and my son were leaving the house. It was that quick. By the time we got out — guttering falling down, windows exploding — so there was no chance."

An off-duty firefighter, who lived nearby, awoke to Anne-Marie's horrified screams.

He described the fire to the coroner as looking "like a Molotov had gone off in the front lounge".

Borrowdale's report noted Fire and Emergency had advised MBIE in 2019 that an average three-piece lounge suite made of flexible polyurethane foam (FPUF) had the combustible potential of 10 litres of fuel.

"The sofa bed, once struck by lit material, contributed to Lizzy's death," Borrowdale said.

"The sofa rapidly combusted and the fire spread extremely quickly throughout the house, with great heat and intensity, and thick, choking black smoke. The speed with which the house was engulfed by fire and fumes was caused, in very large measure, by the FPUF sofa.

"Tragically, Lizzy had — but did not take — an opportunity to follow her mother's path to safety out of the downstairs exit. Lizzy went part-way downstairs at the fire's outbreak but, for reasons we must guess at, returned back upstairs to her bedroom instead of going outside. I consider it likely that Lizzy went upstairs either to save her pets or, alternately, because the toxic chemicals in the smoke can cause people to do 'all sorts of unusual things'.

"It was this decision that sealed Lizzy's fate because, in no time at all, the internal stairs were destroyed, and Lizzy was trapped upstairs as her room filled with thick black smoke, then flames."

The coroner called for regulation of foam-filled furniture, saying that "five years of experience with light-touch guidance had produced scant tangible benefits and no risk reduction".

"Yet still, MBIE has not advised the minister to regulate. Nor has it developed standards requiring that consumers must be informed about the fire risk at the point of purchase. MBIE takes the position that the costs of regulation outweigh its benefits, even where the benefits could include lives saved, and injuries and property damage spared.

"MBIE Consumer Policy should be expected to anticipate risks to consumers, not merely to sit and wait for a sufficient number of deaths before it will act."

Borrowdale called on anyone who doubted the danger of foam-filled furniture to watch Fire and Emergency's demonstration for previous Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Kris Faafoi.

"According to MBIE's own 2019 policy statement on foam-filled furniture, it used to take 30 minutes for a typical New Zealand residential room to become fully involved in fire. With the introduction of foam-filled furniture this escape timeframe has reduced to just 3-4 minutes," Borrowdale said.

"It is quite clear that the ferocity of the blaze ignited at Anne-Marie Marvin's home on May 8, 2024 was in large measure attributable to the foam from which her new sofa bed was constructed.

"The intensity, heat, and spread of the fire, and the toxicity of the fumes generated, gave the occupants of the Marvin home only moments to safely exit the blaze. According to the fire experiment conducted by FENZ, within 1-2 minutes of ignition a house-fire from foam-filled furniture would be 'unsurvivable'.

"MBIE knows this. Its own 2024 guidance states that a foam-filled furniture fire can - even with a fire alarm, such as the one in the Marvin's home — 'outpace a person's ability to respond'. MBIE had the most graphic possible evidence of the devastation of a foam furniture fire, by way of the FENZ fire demonstration. It ought also to have been aware of Coroner Scott's 2010 recommendations for regulatory reform.

"Whatever the merits in 2019 of the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs' non-binding policy statement on foam-filled furniture, continuing that guidance in 2024 - when it was known to be have been almost wholly ineffective - was the triumph of hope over experience. None of the key assumptions made in 2019 by MBIE, about the industry's likely response to guidance, had been fulfilled.

"Given all that is known about these hazards, and the specific knowledge held by this country's product safety agency, it is deplorable that MBIE is content with nothing more than non-binding guidance to industry."

Borrowdale recommended mandatory regulation of foam-filled furniture as "restricting the supply of flammable furnishing materials will save lives, by increasing the time given to occupants to escape a dwelling in the event of fire".

"There is a wealth of information implicating highly combustible foam-filled furniture in fuelling house fires and drastically reducing the window of time within which escape is possible," she said.

"Regulatory avenues can and should be urgently pursued to drive furniture importers, manufacturers, and retailers towards fire-retardant alternatives to foam.

"It is also imperative that standards are enacted to warn customers... about the combustible properties of foam furniture (and, conversely, to nudge them towards those materials which offer greater protection). A variety of communication methods should be considered, but permanent furniture labels are vital if the used furniture consumer is to be similarly informed of the risks of purchase.

"I do not share MBIE's confidence that light-handed, non-binding guidance to industry is an appropriate response to the known fire risks, or that it will produce change in either materials or labelling. Self-regulation has demonstrably failed."

The ministry's commerce, consumer and business policy general manager Andrew Hume responded: "To help address the safety concerns about foam-filled furniture, the government continued a policy statement to the New Zealand furniture industry. This outlines the expectation that suppliers — including importers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers — will work to make sure that the foam-filled furniture products they supply are more fire safe.

"Suppliers are also encouraged to communicate with their customers about risks associated with their products to enable consumers to make informed choices," his statement said.

"Fire and Emergency New Zealand also has practical home fire safety advice on its website for the range of risks that exist including advice on ensuring households have working smoke alarms and an escape plan.

"Additionally, we advise anyone who has this style of furniture to follow any safety instructions and to keep furniture at a safe distance from heat sources. When buying a piece of furniture, we also encourage people to ask retailers about fire resistance."

RNZ asked if the ministry accepted the coroner's findings and recommendations, agreed its passive approach had failed, and why last year it recommended persisting with the non-binding policy statement.

"In our 2024 review of the policy statement, MBIE considered the options available under the Fair Trading Act and recommended continuing the policy statement as the most appropriate. That is because it is the only guidance available to New Zealand manufacturers, importers and retailers of foam-filled furniture on reducing the risk to consumers of harm from fire," Hume said.

"There is insufficient evidence to show mandatory product safety and warning standards would be effective."

Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Scott Simpson said he would consider the coroner's report.

"My expectation, as outlined in the product safety policy statement renewed by the government last year, is that the furniture industry will work to make sure the foam-filled furniture products they supply and sell in the New Zealand market meet the fire safe parameters of the policy statement."

Fire and Emergency community education manager Tom Ronaldson said the events of May 8, 2024 provided a "stark reminder of the speed in which a fire can develop and become unsurvivable, therefore people need to be prepared to ensure they can get out safely".

Anne-Marie Marvin called on the government to act.

She said she wanted the coroner's recommendations to be implemented and for consumers to be warned of the danger of foam-filled furniture.

The sofa that she bought in March 2023 was still available for sale as of Thursday.

rnz.co.nz