Fire officials warned Govt about deadly furniture six years before Canterbury teen perished in horrifying inferno

A chilling fire demonstration shown to government officials six years ago warned of the deadly speed and intensity of foam-filled furniture fires. Exactly the same kind of blaze claimed the life of Canterbury teenager Lizzy Marvin in 2024.

The video, filmed by Fire and Emergency New Zealand in 2019, captured a living room engulfed in flames within minutes after a foam-filled sofa was ignited.

Fire officials described the blaze as “totally unsurvivable”, and provided the footage to then-Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi.

They explained foam-filled furniture “reduces the escape time in a domestic fire by around 90%” and that virtually nothing else in Kiwi homes released as much heat in such a short period of time.

But despite the stark warning, the government opted for a non-binding product safety policy statement, urging manufacturers to improve fire safety — but stopped short of introducing mandatory standards.

Fire and Emergency today reiterated the importance of safety for anyone with foam-filled furniture in their home.

“Foam-filled furniture can catch fire easily at relatively low temperatures and burn quickly and intensely. This can result in the rapid spread of fire in buildings,” said community education manager Tom Ronaldson.

“The events on Thursday, May 8, 2024 are 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.

Ronaldson wanted to “stress the importance” of having a three-step escape plan and keeping anything that can catch fire at least one metre from heat or flames.

Lizzy Marvin. Photo / Facebook

Yesterday, Coroner Mary-Anne Borrowdale ruled “it is likely that Lizzy would still be alive today” if regulations had been introduced.

She was highly critical of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), which she said had “consistently retreated” from regulations.

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

“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.

“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.”

Burnham teen Lizzy Marvin. Photo / Facebook

Borrowdale 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, Faafoi released the product safety policy statement.

In September 2024, MBIE reviewed the policy and acknowledged foam-filled furniture 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.

Unsurvivable: The chilling video

Furniture containing flexible polyurethane foam (FPUF) can be found in around 80% of New Zealand homes.

The foam increases the combustibility and ignitability of furniture. It catches fire easily, burns and spreads quickly, and gives off toxic gases.

The 2019 policy statement acknowledged that when FPUF caught fire “vast amounts of flammable fire gases are quickly released, so that there is insufficient oxygen, and superheated flammable and toxic gases spread throughout a structure”.

“These gases then ignite, causing the fire to extend to rooms that were previously untouched by the original source of the fire,” it stated.

“[Fire and Emergency] advises that an average three-piece suite made of FPUF has the combustible potential of 10 litres of fuel.”

The remains of the house where Lizzy died. Photo / George Heard

Fire and Emergency also carried out a fire experiment to show Faafoi the dangers of FPUF in real time.

A shipping container was furnished like a standard room with a sofa in the corner.

It was ignited using a cigarette lighter. Within 10 seconds, Faafoi remarked upon the “abundant” smoke coming out of the container.

Peter Wilding, who was the national manager of fire investigation and arson reduction for Fire and Emergency at the time, explained why.

“The foam produces an enormous amount of smoke very, very quickly, but that foam is also highly toxic,” he told Faafoi.

“It contains hydrogen cyanide, hydrogen fluoride, hydrogen chloride gas, and so if you stand up in that, it’s obviously very toxic and you can be overcome - even if you’re not overcome, it can affect your reasoning ability, and people do all sorts of unusual things. They might go and hide in a cupboard or do other things rather than make a safe escape.”

Forty seconds after ignition, “intense fire” had “consumed” the container.

“My gosh, that’s fast… So how much of that ferocity is down to the foam?” Faafoi asked.

Wilding replied: “It’s almost entirely down to the foam at the moment”.

“We’re going to go in and extinguish that … and you’ll notice once we’ve done that, there’ll be a lot of timber in there that’s almost unburned, it won’t even be charred. Almost all of what you were seeing … comes down to the foam just combusting.

“There’s virtually nothing else in your house that will release this much heat in such a short period of time. Carpets and furnishings and drapes - sure, they will burn eventually, but nothing will give you this amount of heat production.”

The fire was so intense that crews could not enter the house. Photo / George Heard

Wilding told Faafoi the room was “totally unsurvivable”.

“No one - even with protective gear - will survive in that room, but also down there in nearby rooms and hallways and other bedrooms, they will now be unsurvivable in a house situation.

“If this was downstairs, you might be upstairs in a room where you have not been overcome by the fire but you can now no longer get downstairs.”

Fire and Emergency also advised that before the introduction of FPUF, the time it took for a New Zealand residential room to fully catch alight “could take up to 30 minutes”.

However, FPUF reduced this to 3-4 minutes.

“That is, FPUF reduces the escape time in a domestic fire by around 90%,” FENZ advised.

Lizzy’s mother Anne-Marie told the Herald she wanted to see regulations in place urgently.

“What more proof do they need? Regulations would not have stopped the house from going up, but we might at least have had a half a chance of putting the spark out,” she said.

Lizzy Marvin's mother is calling on the Government to take quick action in relation to regulating foam-filled furniture after the teen died in their family home in 2024. Photo / George Heard

She was unaware of the increased risk of her sofa because of the filling. She never would have bought it if she had known.

“I don’t know what else MBIE need - the coroner, Fire and Emergency ... they have all shown what happens to this type of furniture.

“It’s about time someone stepped in - they don’t need to implement every recommendation, just some of the regulations, because you just have no chance if you’ve only got one or two minutes to get out.

“You don’t realise how quickly things escalated ... it was like molten lava ... I mean, what will it take MBIE to take this on board?”

MBIE’S response to the coroner

MBIE was given a chance to comment on 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.”

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 coroner said Lizzy's death was preventable. Photo / George Heard

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

Hildreth also suggested that the coroner consider “recommending the development of better data on fire deaths and injuries”.

“There is very limited statistical data on fire deaths and injuries and their causes,” he said.

“Most of the available data is from the 1990s. This is a significant barrier to effectively and efficiently addressing fire safety risk, such as those posed by furniture.”

Borrowdale said was empowered only to make recommendations on matters that contributed to Lizzy’s death.

“A lack of longitudinal fire data did not kill Lizzy,” she reminded.

“A raging fire fuelled by an unsafe sofa did. I am also unpersuaded that future similar deaths will be prevented if MBIE holds better data.”

Anna Leask is a senior journalist who covers national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for 19 years with a particular focus on family and gender-based violence, child abuse, sexual violence, homicides, mental health and youth crime. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz