Demonstration of Simple and Efficient Improvement of Fire Behaviour of Upholstered Furniture Through Experiments

Upholstered furniture represents a major fuel load in homes, and is often the first ignited item in dwelling fires. Thus, it poses a danger to occupants, especially those who need assistance to evacuate. Improved fire properties of upholstered furniture may delay or prevent the fire development. Hence, available time for occupants to escape will increase. Fire safety measures should be accessible, easily applicable, cost efficient, and without harmful effects on health and the environment. Results from small‐scale screening tests and large‐scale fire experiments of typical upholstery materials on the Norwegian market are presented. The materials were polyurethane foam covered with three different fabrics: 100% cotton, and two different cotton/polyester blends. The covers were tested untreated, with application of two types of fire retardants, and covered with a thick wool blanket. The test results from a complete armchair show that the simple measures were able to delay the fire growth, where the fire‐retardants gave the longest delay. This indicates that the fire behaviour of upholstered furniture may be efficiently improved by application of simple measures. This could be particularly useful in residences where a higher level of fire safety is needed, for example in homes for at‐risk persons in case of fire.