Modern furniture materials linked to faster and hotter house fires, experts say

New furniture in homes made with various materials like plastics and petroleum are fueling flames in house fires, according to fire experts.

Synthetics found in couches along with electronics and other items can burn hotter and faster, according to Bryan Douglass, the Principal Fire Protection engineer with TERP Consulting.

“So you see a lot of a lot of things that use adhesives,” Douglass said. “ We see a lot of plastic products. So some of the engineered products will have resins - building furniture. Furniture in your house is made cheaper and lighter. So it's got a lot of plastics, a lot of laminates that just burn and they don't char like solid wood."

Clark County Fire Department Chief John Steinbeck said a fire burned a home very quickly on Langhorne Creek Street, near Windmill Lane and Jones Boulevard on Thursday, despite firefighters responding within five minutes of receiving the call around 4:08 a.m.

Firefighters arrived to find flames coming out of the windows on the second and third floors. They tried going through the front door on the second floor but were pushed out because of the heat, according to Steinbeck.

They cut through the garage door to search but had to evacuate when the second floor began to collapse on them.

"It's not unheard of for a fire to go that quickly,” Steinbeck said. “Fires, especially in modern homes, with modern finishes, that burn very hot.”

It’s an issue firefighters with Las Vegas Fire and Rescue notice as well.

“Furniture used to be designed with cotton and wall upholstery and thick batten padding, but now it's all synthetics, all synthetic foams, and the flames spread, will go very quickly,” Robert Nolan, senior deputy fire chief with LVFR said. “It not only goes faster, but because of the recycled materials, petroleum products that are in our furnishings, you'll get dense, black smoke and intense heat, about five to eight times hotter than you would with a traditional 1970s era home.”

He also said open floors mean less compartmentalization to contain fires.

There are also larger spans of trusses in the attic made with lightweight wood.

“That's why the model residential building codes began requiring fire sprinklers in 2009 that's when it first appeared in code,” Nolan said.

The City of Las Vegas made it standard for new homes starting in 2019.

It’s also required by the City of Henderson. Clark County Commissioners approved an ordinance in September 2024 that required all new homes to have sprinklers.