Coroner links unsafe sofa and ‘deplorable’ MBIE inaction to Canterbury teen Lizzy Marvin’s death in house fire

A coroner has ruled Canterbury teenager Lizzy Marvin died after becoming trapped in her bedroom during “a raging fire fuelled by an unsafe sofa” in her family home.

The 16-year-old had been on her way to safety but turned back to save her beloved pets and perished in the “unbelievable” May 2024 inferno.

Coroner Mary-Anne Borrowdale found it was likely Lizzy “would still be alive today” if not for the “deplorable” inaction of New Zealand’s product safety agency, which has “consistently retreated” from regulating foam-filled furniture — known to intensify fires and reduce escape times.

“The consumer policy division of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has considered regulating,” Borrowdale said.

“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.

“Renewed priority should be given to regulation. 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.”

Lizzy’s mother Anne-Marie Marvin also called on MBIE to act.

“What more proof do MBIE and the Government need to see there needs to be regulations?

“Two coroners... have been fighting it for so many years for regulations. What does it take for them to take some of these recommendations on board?”

The death of Lizzy Marvin

Elizabeth Marie Marvin died on May 8, 2024, at the Burnham home she shared with her mother Anne-Marie, brother Michael, 19, and family friend Kahn Peachey, 18.

The fire started just after 2am when Anne-Marie put wood on the fire in the living room. Sparks burst out of the fireplace, quickly igniting her fold-out sofa about 60cm away.

Burnham teen Lizzy Marvin. Photo / Facebook

She said the sofa seemed to “fold in on itself and go up in flames”.

“It just melted in front of me,” she told the coroner.

As Anne-Marie ran for the door she saw Lizzy coming down the stairs. She thought the teen was following her outside.

Michael and Kahn escaped their upstairs bedrooms - from a fire escape and window.

But Lizzy never emerged.

Records showed she called 111 at 2.11am, saying “the whole house” was on fire and she was stuck upstairs.

“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,” said the coroner.

“The call-taker stayed on the line for 10 minutes, trying to comfort Lizzy and elicit a response.”

An off-duty firefighter arrived, woken by Anne-Marie’s screams.

He described her as “highly distressed” and “running backwards and forwards… trying to find a way to get in to Lizzy”.

“It looked like a Molotov had gone off… a fireball,” he said.

Police arrived at 2.20am.

“The house was fully engulfed… flames coming out of all visible windows. I could not have safely reached the front door,” the first officer on the scene said.

Fire crews arrived at 2.23am and 2.27am.

“Access to the upper storey was impossible… the ‘unbelievable’ heat could be felt 10 metres away,” said the coroner.

Lizzy’s body was later found in her bedroom near the window. She died from inhalation of smoke and fumes.

Emergency response concerns addressed

Fire and Emergency New Zealand told the Coroner that when first responders - volunteers from Rolleston and Dunsandel - arrived, the fire was “too dangerous and too hot for fire crews to enter”.

Crews called for backup and began pumping water into the upstairs bedrooms to “stop the fire from spreading and hopefully save Lizzy”.

“The heat being emitted from the fire was unbelievable… there was nothing further we could have done differently… without compromising safety and putting the crews’ lives at risk,” said the Rolleston commanding officer.

Firefighters desperately tried to extinguish the blaze and save Lizzy. Photo / George Heard

Further crews responded from Wigram, Ilam and Christchurch.

The nearest station — 1.6km away at Burnham Military Camp—was unmanned because of staffing shortages.

Coroner Borrowdale thought it was unlikely Lizzie would have been rescued even if NZDF firefighters had been available.

“Lizzy was lethally compromised by smoke and fumes… her life could not then have been saved even if entry… had been possible.”

The Coroner also addressed the 111 call and why Lizzy wasn’t told to go downstairs.

“The call-taker’s responses were based on Lizzy’s statements that she was trapped… the focus changed from escape to keeping Lizzy calm and giving all possible support.

“While ‘get out stay out’ is standard advice… without situational awareness, this can place the caller in harm’s way.”

Fire and Emergency NZ acknowledged Lizzy wasn’t asked about a fire escape, but had said she was “stuck”.

“I am satisfied… the call-taker gave appropriate guidance.”

Police couldn’t confirm why Lizzy went back upstairs, but she “may have done so to save her pet animals”.

‘Deplorable’ - Coroner slams MBIE inaction

Coroner Borrowdale noted that “tragedy could have been averted” if the sofa had been a safe distance from the fireplace.

However, she was “unsatisfied” that safety advice “exhausted all that could be said” about the fatal fire and “the means of preventing future fatalities”.

“In particular, I wanted to explore the contribution – if any – made by the sofa bed on which the embers had fallen,” she said.

Anne-Marie purchased the sofa from Big Save Furniture in March 2023.

“The website listing for the sofa contains product specifications, but no information about the sofa stuffing or the flammability of the product,” said Coroner Borrowdale.

The Coroner says the fire spread faster than usual due to an "unsafe" foam-filled couch in the house. Photo / George Heard

“However, like many sofas for sale on the NZ market, the sofa was filled with flexible polyurethane foam (FPUF) and represented an enlarged fire risk.

“The consumer policy division of MBIE has considered regulating foam-filled furniture – and has consistently retreated from doing so… there is no requirement in NZ for the foam used in soft furnishings to be made of a non-combustible modified material.”

The Coroner said repeated calls for regulations around foam-filled furniture remained largely ignored for 15 years.

In 2010 Coroner Tim Scott found the death of a man in New Plymouth might have been avoided if the couch had been made of non-combustible material.

At the time he urged the Government to consider mandatory regulation.

In 2019, Minister Kris Faafoi released a product safety policy statement highlighting the extreme flammability of foam-filled furniture, found in about 80% of NZ homes.

“Retailers and manufacturers have an opportunity to make the lives of consumers safer. If they don’t act, we will consider enacting a regulatory review,” he said.

The policy confirmed FPUF was “a common component of a wide range of furniture” and “associated with a number of risks” because it increases combustibility and ignitibility.

“FPUF catches fire easily, burns and spreads quickly, and gives off toxic gases… vast amounts of flammable fire gases are quickly released… these gases then ignite, causing the fire to extend to rooms that were previously untouched,” the statement said.

Despite the warnings, the policy stopped short of mandatory safety standards.

It encouraged voluntary adoption of safer materials and labelling.

Industry uptake was minimal. No regulations were introduced and MBIE did not recommend further action.

Lizzy Marvin died in a house fire. Photo / Facebook

In September 2024, MBIE reviewed the policy and acknowledged FPUF posed a “significant fire hazard,” but industry response had been limited.

The review noted “minimal adoption of technologies to increase fire resistance”, fire deaths had not reduced consistently, and the policy had not been effective.

Despite this, MBIE recommended continuing the policy for another five years, citing low cost and lack of alternatives.

Coroner Borrowdale criticised the agency.

“Given all that is known… it is deplorable that MBIE is content with nothing more than non-binding guidance," she said.

“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.

“I recommend that MBIE revisit its passive policy position... designs regulations to limit the use of hazardous foam materials, and designs warning standards for consumers, all of which the ministry can advise the Minister of Consumer Affairs to enact.”

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 at the point of purchase about the combustible properties of foam furniture and, conversely, to nudge them towards those materials which offer greater protection.

“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 scene the morning after the fatal fire. Photo / George Heard

Coroner Borrowdale said Lizzy’s death was a tragedy and never should have happened.

“Tragically, Lizzy had — but did not take — an opportunity to follow her mother’s path to safety out of the downstairs exit. 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.

“Because of the ferocity of the fire, it overpowered and defeated all bystanders who came to assist... I am satisfied that all emergency responders did what they could, but that entry to the dwelling to extricate Lizzy alive was impossible.”

Coroner Borrowdale noted that the mandatory downstairs smoke alarm was missing from the rental property, but said that did not contribute to Lizzy’s death.

Anne-Marie said she lived “each day as it comes” and missed her daughter terribly.

“She was a fabulous girl, had a heart of gold, would do anything for anybody,” she said.

“She’d come to meet me at work, and she’d just like to take a look at any of my colleagues, and she’d just know that they needed - what we still refer to as ‘a Lizzy hug’. If they were having a bad day or not feeling great, she was the first person to see it.

“That was her all over - she always made sure everybody was all right before she was. She never judged them.”

MBIE’s response to Coroner’s criticism

MBIE was given a chance to comment on Coroner Borrowdale’s recommendations before her findings were released.

Consumer policy manager Glen Hildreth agreed that “in certain circumstances” the flammability of foam-filled furniture poses significant risks.

“However, decisions around the regulation of this class of furniture are not straightforward,” he replied.

“The Coroner’s comments and recommendations could better acknowledge the difficulties and trade-offs with regulation and offer a more balanced way forward.”

The ferocity of the fire prevented first responders entering the house. Photo / George Heard

Hildreth said difficulties included the cost of regulation and the “unintended consequences” of mandating fire resistance, including “adverse environmental and health effects” of chemical fire retardants.

“Although the United Kingdom considers that regulation of FPUF has resulted in a significant reduction in fire deaths, there is no clear causal link establishing this,” he said.

“The UK has recently made adjustments to its regulations and has not yet landed on a workable and effective reform.”