September 18, 2025 • 15 mins
A coroner has issued a damning report after the death of 16-year-old Canterbury teenager Lizzy Marvin — saying she likely died because the government failed to act on the dangers of foam-filled furniture.
Lizzy died after toxic fumes filled her Burnham home when embers from a fireplace set her family's sofa bed alight. The coroner says the blaze spread with terrifying speed because of the foam inside — a risk Fire and Emergency has warned about for years.
Coroner Mary-Anne Borrowdale has labelled the ministry’s inaction “deplorable” and says Lizzy’s death could have been prevented.
After more than a decade of warnings about foam filled furniture, found in 80% of New Zealand homes, what will it take for regulation to finally change?
Today on The Front Page, NZHerald Senior Crime and Justice reporter, Anna Leask joins us to discuss the latest report.
Follow The Front Page on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network.
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Producer: Jane Yee
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Kyota. I'm Richard Martin in for Chelsea Daniels and This
is the Front Page, a daily podcast presented by the
New Zealand Herald. A coroner has issued a damning report
after the death of sixteen year old Canterbury teenager Lizzie Marvin,
saying she likely died because the government failed to act
on the dangers of foam filled furniture. Lizzie died after
(00:30):
toxic fumes filled her Burnham home when embers from a
fireplace set her family's sofa bed alight. The coroner says
the blaze spread with terrifying speed because of the foam inside,
a risk that Fire and Emergency has warned about for years.
Coroner Marianne Borrowdale has labeled the ministry's inaction deplorable and
(00:50):
says Lizzie's death could have been prevented after more than
a decade of warnings about foam filled furniture found in
about eighty percent of New Zealand homes. What will it
take for regulation to finally change? Today? On the Front Page,
Insid Herald, Senior Crime and Justice reporter Anna Lease joins
us to discuss the latest report, because, first off, Anna,
(01:15):
can you just take us through what happened to Lizzie Marvin.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
So, yeah, Lizzie and her family were living at a
house in Burnham, which is just out of christ Church.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Everyone had gone to bed for the night.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Lizzie, her brother, and her family friends were in bedrooms upstairs,
and because the family friend was saying her mum was
sleeping in the lounge on a fold out sofa. She
purchased it not long before Bran knew quite expensive, so
it was folded out and she got up at two
am to sort of stoke the fire. It was getting
a bit cold, and some sparks sort of burst out
(01:49):
of the fire, landed on this couch and it just
went up in flames.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
She described it as melting and folding in on itself.
So she ran from the house.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
As she ran out, she saw Lizzie coming down the
stairs on the phone to one on one, so she
thought her daughter was behind her and got outside and
realized that Lizzie wasn't there. The two boys managed to
get out, one through a fire escape and the other
through a window, and they were all just frantically, you know,
screaming for Lizzie and trying to get emergency services. There
and basically by the time emergency service scot there, it
(02:26):
was far too hot for anyone to go in, and
Lizzie died in the house.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
They think that she actually went back upstairs to save
her pets.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
She was a big animal lover passionate about her pets,
and so they think that's why she went back into
the house, which was really really tragic.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
And then there's also just that these toxic fumes that
are going around can make people do odd things like
that as well.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Right, one hundred percent, and this is the whole, the
whole Corner's report is based around that the filling of
this couch, you know, the material it was made of,
is so flammable that this family only had one or
two minutes to get out of the house. You know,
it speeds up the process. It means that the fire
spreads to other rooms much more quickly.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
You know.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Information I've been reading today about fires say that you know,
before this material was introduced to New Zealand, furniture people had,
you know, thirty thirty minutes it would take for a
house to go up in flames like this, but that
that has been reduced by about ninety percent.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Now that this foam filling is in furniture.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
And it's suspected that this, this foam furniture is an
eighty percent of New Zealand homes, which is you know,
a big deal.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
And so the coroner's report that's come out, it's it's
a pretty damning report. What else is in there?
Speaker 2 (03:47):
So the coroner has said, obviously people need to be
really careful first and foremost about how close furniture is
to fires. The couch when folded out was only about
sixty centimeters away, and obviously fire and all the other
emergency services have the one meter rule.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
But if the couch had.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Not been made from that material, it is likely Lizzie
would still be alive today. The coroner has said that
it is extremely dangerous. She's made a formal recommendation that
the government regulate.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
This furniture filling.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
I have safety safety advice and recommend that manufacturers don't
use it. That's been also raised by another coroner in
twenty ten after a similar death, and there have been
in twenty nineteen. In twenty twenty four, the government looked
at whether that should be done, and in the coroner's words,
they have consistently retreated from putting any mandates in place.
(04:45):
There is you know, advice and recommendations, but it's unbinding
and the coroner has said that that is absolutely deplorable
and that had the safety information been mandatory around this couch,
this material when Lizzie's mum purchased the piece of furniture.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Things might have been very, very different.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
You know. Lizzie's mum told me yesterday that had she known,
there's no way she would have bought that couch.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
And so the coroner is calling.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
On action the government, you know, MB is saying that
you've got to look at the cost of regulations and
the cost of doing it is higher than the benefits
the public will get. And the coroners hit back at that, saying, well,
how many people need to die? You're just going to
sit and wait until you get the right number of
deaths to make it worth the money. And she's just
(05:37):
said that's not good enough. Lizzie should still be here
today and she's not prepared to wait. So she has
called for MB to put those regulations in place urgently.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
And it's not the first time that there's been called
for regulations like what has sparked it in the past.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
In twenty ten, there was a man who died as well.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
There was a furniture he was sleeping on and I
believe he had a cigarette that ignited that and he
died as well. And you know it's very fast igniting,
fast burning, fast moving fire and Coroner Tim Scott back
then called to regulation and no action was taken. Then
in twenty nineteen a policy statement was put together around
(06:26):
you know, what people should do, what manufacturers should do,
but again it fell short of regulating the industry. And
you know, Coroner Marian Borrodale this week has said that's
what she's calling deplorable, is that there have been calls
for action, there have been chances to take action, and
(06:46):
you know she's saying, what more do you need to
do this? And that's what and Marie, Lizzie's mum, has said,
is what more proof do you need? You know, how
many more people like Lizzie need to lose their lives
before or it's worth the government spending the money on
regulating this furniture, which as I said, is and can
be found in about eighty percent of New Zealand homes.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Yeah, that's a chilling statistic, Like is this a failure
of policymakers or of manufacturers or retailers.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
What do you think manufacturers are gonna often use, you know,
cheaper fillings, make their products cheaper, that sort of thing.
The government has a chance to regulate and say, look,
you either can't use that, or if you do use it,
you must do X, y Z. That's not being done.
So there is some advice and recommendations, of course, but
(07:41):
that is not making a difference. It's you know, people
aren't there's no buy in or there's no pick up,
and so really the only way to get manufacturers to
follow the rules is by having rules. You know. It's
like saying, you know, it's not a good idea to
drive after you've been drinking beer, rather.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Than you know, it is illegal to or you must not.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
It's you know, and if you look at appliances to
fridge as freezers, washing machines, they've all got safety advices,
regulations on how they operate and work, and what they've got.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
To have to be sold.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
And you know, the coroner is just cannot fathom why
this highly flammable, highly toxic foam filling doesn't have the
same you know, mandated safety advice and processes.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
Yeah, the phone produces a normal amount of smoke very
very quickly. But that phone is also highly toxic. It
contains hydrogen cyanide, hygen fluoride, hydroen chloride gas, and so
if you stand up on that it obviously is very
toxic and you can be able to come. You can
now see that flame with just a few seconds into it.
(08:56):
We've now got actually flame with teaching across the ceiling
that's now peeking up items in that room. They will
start to combust. It will be penetrating beyond the room
of origin now and and start to go up into
another down the hallway, into other rooms of the house.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
There was this time last year MB reviewed a product
safety policy statement highlighting the extreme flammability of this fine
field furniture that came out in twenty nineteen. Why did
it take them five years to review the policy statement.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
I'm not sure what the timing decision was around that,
but when they looked at it last year, they've left
it for another five years, so that won't be reviewed again.
They're happy in twenty twenty four, they were happy with
how things stood. They felt it was adequate, and obviously
that was done after Lizzie died, so that won't be
(09:50):
looked at for.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Another five years. And the coroner has just said not
good enough.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
It needs to be urgently addressed because you know, Lizzie's
case has shown us that people can and then will
die if the dangers of this product aren't addressed shared.
You know, you can go into I think her mum
bought this couch and I think it was just under
(10:13):
three thousand dollars she paid for it. She you know,
it was a good couch and it was what she
needed and what she wanted for the home. And she
had no idea that had this you know, highly flammable
you know material, And why would she because nobody has
to tell her that. We all know that furniture is flammable.
(10:34):
But would we buy the couch if we knew that
the material in the couch would reduce our escape time
from a house fire by ninety percent?
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Yeah? And is there any kind of warning on these products?
Speaker 3 (10:51):
I think you can look up from memory.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
You can with this couch, there is the standard, the
safety advice I think with all niture there is on
most websites, you can look up the safety advice.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
For the material.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
You know, but it's how much safety advice does a
manufacturer have to give because there's only these guidelines and
as the coroner is said there, they're non binding and
there's not been a lot of pack up on it.
You know, you've got to buy a I don't know,
you you got to buy an.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Oven or an air fryer.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
And you know that it's hot, it's going to get
to X amount of temperature. The door might be this hot,
don't touch this bit. But these foam filled couches don't
have anything other than you know, made from flammable You know,
we know they're flammable, but we don't know how dangerous
they are. We don't know the potential consequence because nobody
(11:49):
has to tell consumers that, and that's what the coroner
is getting at.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Has MB responded to the coroner's report at all.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
They were given a chance to respond before the report
was published. They've just come back saying, look, it's it's
difficult to regulate. They're saying it's going to cost a
lot of money to regulate this product, and that you know,
even overseas where regulations and things are being looked at
(12:20):
and put in place, it's not as clear cut they're
basically saying that there's there's not enough evidence.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
That it's needed.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
And the coroner has said, well, you know, you're just
going to sit there and wait for more X number
of deaths, but before you get to that level. So
the coroner has been really scathing of MB. Just keep
going back to she's she's called the inaction deplorable and
just you know her words that are consistently retreating from
regulating this. And you know, how what is what value
(12:54):
do you put on the life of a sixteen year
old girl? You know, surely one death is too much.
You know, had that been a couch made of other material,
they might have had ten fifteen minutes to get out
of that house as it was smoldering. But no, it
just went straight up in flames. And I think that
is as was his mum said she never ort to
(13:14):
bought the couch if she knew that that was a possibility.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
What would regulation of this actually look like. Is it
just an outright ban or is there some other way
of regulating?
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Yeah, I'm not exactly sure, but I would imagine that
there would be a number of sort of options.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
I mean, an outright band is possible.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
But also you know, encouraging doing more than just encouraging
manufacturers not to use it and to look at other materials,
making sure that you know, there's potentially big stickers in
the furniture shop saying this product has this particular foam
filling in it, so that people know what it is
(13:55):
and can make an educated decision on what they're purchasing.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
You know, I can tell you right now, I have
no idea what is in my couch at home.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
So you know, you buy a couch and you think
you're spending a lot of money and it's a good quality, but.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Then you hear this horror story.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Of this couch just going up in flames immediately, and
you know, within you know, within minutes, that house was
too hot for even firefighters in protective gear to get in.
It was one firefighter who rubbed at the scene described
it as like a Molotov cocktail had been thrown into
(14:32):
the house. It was just flames coming out of every window.
And that's just for us sofa from some sparks from
a fire, you know, that got into a sofa, and
fire and Emergency have told, you know, their advice to
the government earlier was that you know, carpets and curtains
and other things. Yes, they go off in flames, but
(14:53):
not at that rate, not at that pace, and not
at that intensity.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
That's it for this episode of the Front Page. You
can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage
at inzidherld dot co dot inzid. The Front Page is
produced by Jane Yee. I'm Richard Martin. Subscribe to the
Front Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts,
and tune in on Monday for another look behind the headlines.
Kyota. I'm Richard Martin in for Chelsea Daniels and This
is the Front Page, a daily podcast presented by the
New Zealand Herald. A coroner has issued a damning report
after the death of sixteen year old Canterbury teenager Lizzie Marvin,
saying she likely died because the government failed to act
on the dangers of foam filled furniture. Lizzie died after
(00:30):
toxic fumes filled her Burnham home when embers from a
fireplace set her family's sofa bed alight. The coroner says
the blaze spread with terrifying speed because of the foam inside,
a risk that Fire and Emergency has warned about for years.
Coroner Marianne Borrowdale has labeled the ministry's inaction deplorable and
(00:50):
says Lizzie's death could have been prevented after more than
a decade of warnings about foam filled furniture found in
about eighty percent of New Zealand homes. What will it
take for regulation to finally change? Today? On the Front Page,
Insid Herald, Senior Crime and Justice reporter Anna Lease joins
us to discuss the latest report, because, first off, Anna,
(01:15):
can you just take us through what happened to Lizzie Marvin.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
So, yeah, Lizzie and her family were living at a
house in Burnham, which is just out of christ Church.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Everyone had gone to bed for the night.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Lizzie, her brother, and her family friends were in bedrooms upstairs,
and because the family friend was saying her mum was
sleeping in the lounge on a fold out sofa. She
purchased it not long before Bran knew quite expensive, so
it was folded out and she got up at two
am to sort of stoke the fire. It was getting
a bit cold, and some sparks sort of burst out
(01:49):
of the fire, landed on this couch and it just
went up in flames.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
She described it as melting and folding in on itself.
So she ran from the house.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
As she ran out, she saw Lizzie coming down the
stairs on the phone to one on one, so she
thought her daughter was behind her and got outside and
realized that Lizzie wasn't there. The two boys managed to
get out, one through a fire escape and the other
through a window, and they were all just frantically, you know,
screaming for Lizzie and trying to get emergency services. There
and basically by the time emergency service scot there, it
(02:26):
was far too hot for anyone to go in, and
Lizzie died in the house.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
They think that she actually went back upstairs to save
her pets.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
She was a big animal lover passionate about her pets,
and so they think that's why she went back into
the house, which was really really tragic.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
And then there's also just that these toxic fumes that
are going around can make people do odd things like
that as well.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Right, one hundred percent, and this is the whole, the
whole Corner's report is based around that the filling of
this couch, you know, the material it was made of,
is so flammable that this family only had one or
two minutes to get out of the house. You know,
it speeds up the process. It means that the fire
spreads to other rooms much more quickly.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
You know.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Information I've been reading today about fires say that you know,
before this material was introduced to New Zealand, furniture people had,
you know, thirty thirty minutes it would take for a
house to go up in flames like this, but that
that has been reduced by about ninety percent.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Now that this foam filling is in furniture.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
And it's suspected that this, this foam furniture is an
eighty percent of New Zealand homes, which is you know,
a big deal.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
And so the coroner's report that's come out, it's it's
a pretty damning report. What else is in there?
Speaker 2 (03:47):
So the coroner has said, obviously people need to be
really careful first and foremost about how close furniture is
to fires. The couch when folded out was only about
sixty centimeters away, and obviously fire and all the other
emergency services have the one meter rule.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
But if the couch had.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Not been made from that material, it is likely Lizzie
would still be alive today. The coroner has said that
it is extremely dangerous. She's made a formal recommendation that
the government regulate.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
This furniture filling.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
I have safety safety advice and recommend that manufacturers don't
use it. That's been also raised by another coroner in
twenty ten after a similar death, and there have been
in twenty nineteen. In twenty twenty four, the government looked
at whether that should be done, and in the coroner's words,
they have consistently retreated from putting any mandates in place.
(04:45):
There is you know, advice and recommendations, but it's unbinding
and the coroner has said that that is absolutely deplorable
and that had the safety information been mandatory around this couch,
this material when Lizzie's mum purchased the piece of furniture.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Things might have been very, very different.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
You know. Lizzie's mum told me yesterday that had she known,
there's no way she would have bought that couch.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
And so the coroner is calling.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
On action the government, you know, MB is saying that
you've got to look at the cost of regulations and
the cost of doing it is higher than the benefits
the public will get. And the coroners hit back at that, saying, well,
how many people need to die? You're just going to
sit and wait until you get the right number of
deaths to make it worth the money. And she's just
(05:37):
said that's not good enough. Lizzie should still be here
today and she's not prepared to wait. So she has
called for MB to put those regulations in place urgently.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
And it's not the first time that there's been called
for regulations like what has sparked it in the past.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
In twenty ten, there was a man who died as well.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
There was a furniture he was sleeping on and I
believe he had a cigarette that ignited that and he
died as well. And you know it's very fast igniting,
fast burning, fast moving fire and Coroner Tim Scott back
then called to regulation and no action was taken. Then
in twenty nineteen a policy statement was put together around
(06:26):
you know, what people should do, what manufacturers should do,
but again it fell short of regulating the industry. And
you know, Coroner Marian Borrodale this week has said that's
what she's calling deplorable, is that there have been calls
for action, there have been chances to take action, and
(06:46):
you know she's saying, what more do you need to
do this? And that's what and Marie, Lizzie's mum, has said,
is what more proof do you need? You know, how
many more people like Lizzie need to lose their lives
before or it's worth the government spending the money on
regulating this furniture, which as I said, is and can
be found in about eighty percent of New Zealand homes.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Yeah, that's a chilling statistic, Like is this a failure
of policymakers or of manufacturers or retailers.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
What do you think manufacturers are gonna often use, you know,
cheaper fillings, make their products cheaper, that sort of thing.
The government has a chance to regulate and say, look,
you either can't use that, or if you do use it,
you must do X, y Z. That's not being done.
So there is some advice and recommendations, of course, but
(07:41):
that is not making a difference. It's you know, people
aren't there's no buy in or there's no pick up,
and so really the only way to get manufacturers to
follow the rules is by having rules. You know. It's
like saying, you know, it's not a good idea to
drive after you've been drinking beer, rather.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Than you know, it is illegal to or you must not.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
It's you know, and if you look at appliances to
fridge as freezers, washing machines, they've all got safety advices,
regulations on how they operate and work, and what they've got.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
To have to be sold.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
And you know, the coroner is just cannot fathom why
this highly flammable, highly toxic foam filling doesn't have the
same you know, mandated safety advice and processes.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
Yeah, the phone produces a normal amount of smoke very
very quickly. But that phone is also highly toxic. It
contains hydrogen cyanide, hygen fluoride, hydroen chloride gas, and so
if you stand up on that it obviously is very
toxic and you can be able to come. You can
now see that flame with just a few seconds into it.
(08:56):
We've now got actually flame with teaching across the ceiling
that's now peeking up items in that room. They will
start to combust. It will be penetrating beyond the room
of origin now and and start to go up into
another down the hallway, into other rooms of the house.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
There was this time last year MB reviewed a product
safety policy statement highlighting the extreme flammability of this fine
field furniture that came out in twenty nineteen. Why did
it take them five years to review the policy statement.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
I'm not sure what the timing decision was around that,
but when they looked at it last year, they've left
it for another five years, so that won't be reviewed again.
They're happy in twenty twenty four, they were happy with
how things stood. They felt it was adequate, and obviously
that was done after Lizzie died, so that won't be
(09:50):
looked at for.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Another five years. And the coroner has just said not
good enough.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
It needs to be urgently addressed because you know, Lizzie's
case has shown us that people can and then will
die if the dangers of this product aren't addressed shared.
You know, you can go into I think her mum
bought this couch and I think it was just under
(10:13):
three thousand dollars she paid for it. She you know,
it was a good couch and it was what she
needed and what she wanted for the home. And she
had no idea that had this you know, highly flammable
you know material, And why would she because nobody has
to tell her that. We all know that furniture is flammable.
(10:34):
But would we buy the couch if we knew that
the material in the couch would reduce our escape time
from a house fire by ninety percent?
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Yeah? And is there any kind of warning on these products?
Speaker 3 (10:51):
I think you can look up from memory.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
You can with this couch, there is the standard, the
safety advice I think with all niture there is on
most websites, you can look up the safety advice.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
For the material.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
You know, but it's how much safety advice does a
manufacturer have to give because there's only these guidelines and
as the coroner is said there, they're non binding and
there's not been a lot of pack up on it.
You know, you've got to buy a I don't know,
you you got to buy an.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Oven or an air fryer.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
And you know that it's hot, it's going to get
to X amount of temperature. The door might be this hot,
don't touch this bit. But these foam filled couches don't
have anything other than you know, made from flammable You know,
we know they're flammable, but we don't know how dangerous
they are. We don't know the potential consequence because nobody
(11:49):
has to tell consumers that, and that's what the coroner
is getting at.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Has MB responded to the coroner's report at all.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
They were given a chance to respond before the report
was published. They've just come back saying, look, it's it's
difficult to regulate. They're saying it's going to cost a
lot of money to regulate this product, and that you know,
even overseas where regulations and things are being looked at
(12:20):
and put in place, it's not as clear cut they're
basically saying that there's there's not enough evidence.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
That it's needed.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
And the coroner has said, well, you know, you're just
going to sit there and wait for more X number
of deaths, but before you get to that level. So
the coroner has been really scathing of MB. Just keep
going back to she's she's called the inaction deplorable and
just you know her words that are consistently retreating from
regulating this. And you know, how what is what value
(12:54):
do you put on the life of a sixteen year
old girl? You know, surely one death is too much.
You know, had that been a couch made of other material,
they might have had ten fifteen minutes to get out
of that house as it was smoldering. But no, it
just went straight up in flames. And I think that
is as was his mum said she never ort to
(13:14):
bought the couch if she knew that that was a possibility.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
What would regulation of this actually look like. Is it
just an outright ban or is there some other way
of regulating?
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Yeah, I'm not exactly sure, but I would imagine that
there would be a number of sort of options.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
I mean, an outright band is possible.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
But also you know, encouraging doing more than just encouraging
manufacturers not to use it and to look at other materials,
making sure that you know, there's potentially big stickers in
the furniture shop saying this product has this particular foam
filling in it, so that people know what it is
(13:55):
and can make an educated decision on what they're purchasing.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
You know, I can tell you right now, I have
no idea what is in my couch at home.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
So you know, you buy a couch and you think
you're spending a lot of money and it's a good quality, but.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Then you hear this horror story.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Of this couch just going up in flames immediately, and
you know, within you know, within minutes, that house was
too hot for even firefighters in protective gear to get in.
It was one firefighter who rubbed at the scene described
it as like a Molotov cocktail had been thrown into
(14:32):
the house. It was just flames coming out of every window.
And that's just for us sofa from some sparks from
a fire, you know, that got into a sofa, and
fire and Emergency have told, you know, their advice to
the government earlier was that you know, carpets and curtains
and other things. Yes, they go off in flames, but
(14:53):
not at that rate, not at that pace, and not
at that intensity.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
That's it for this episode of the Front Page. You
can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage
at inzidherld dot co dot inzid. The Front Page is
produced by Jane Yee. I'm Richard Martin. Subscribe to the
Front Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts,
and tune in on Monday for another look behind the headlines.
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