Safe as houses?

By - , Build 138

A BRANZ project found that over 10% of owner-occupied housing is at risk should a fire break out. Several things can be done to help fireproof homes, and most are reasonably low cost.

Figure 1: Fire hazard condition score.
Figure 2: Average cost of repairs from the 2010 BRANZ House Condition Survey.

FIRES ARE QUITE COMMON in New Zealand housing, with approximately one fire per 400 houses a year.

The causes are varied, but 70% of fires attended by the Fire Service are due to unsafe behaviour by the occupants, for example, cooking accidents, ignition from cigarettes and candles, overloaded power outlets and unsafe use of heaters.

The other 30% are caused by faulty equipment such as ovens, old wiring, heaters and light fittings.

Timber contributes to fire loads

Houses built before 1946 are more likely to be severely damaged in a fire than younger houses because of the high incidence of flammable materials – timber claddings, strip timber floors, timber match lining – and the older wiring.

Timber materials remain a major source of fire loading in modern houses if a fire takes hold, since most have timber framing and timber claddings are still popular.

In this environment, it’s important to minimise ignition sources and have an early warning of fire outbreak and the means to extinguish the fire. Otherwise, by the time the Fire Service has arrived, significant damage and injury may have occurred.

What safety features do we have?

BRANZ recently completed a project funded by the Building Research Levy and the New Zealand Fire Service to look at fire safety in the housing stock. The main source of data was the BRANZ house condition surveys of 2010 and 2004.

A fire hazard condition score was developed for each house surveyed by assessing fire hazards including ignition sources and materials that increase fire spread.

The project found that:

  • in the 2010 survey, 94% of owner-occupied houses had at least one smoke alarm (up from 85% in the 2004 survey) but this was slightly lower in rentals at 89%
  • in houses with alarms, only 90% had at least one alarm that was operational, leaving 15% of houses in 2010 without a working alarm
  • approximately 40% of houses had chemical fire extinguishers, and 70% had accessible garden hoses that could readily be used for fire-fighting purposes in 2010
  • about 11% of owner-occupied houses had a fire hazard condition score rated at serious or poor and needing immediate remedy. For rentals, the condition was worse, with about 25% of houses needing immediate attention.

Figure 1 shows the percentage of houses in each age group requiring immediate attention. Rentals are clearly more hazardous than owner-occupied. Generally, the older the owner-occupied house the worse the hazard score. For the rentals, the 1950–69 era houses are in most need of repair.

How much to remedy?

Figure 2 shows the average cost of repairs needed to remedy hazard defects for owner-occupied housing.

The all-inclusive bars address all defects including some quite expensive measures such as external stairs to upper storeys, replacing synthetic carpet with polished floors or less flammable carpets and replacing flammable linings.

Figure 1: Fire hazard condition score.
Figure 2: Average cost of repairs from the 2010 BRANZ House Condition Survey.

While omitting expensive repairs slightly increases the risk, the remaining measures are generally low-cost ones to address ignition issues, including:

  • putting in smoke alarms
  • moving cupboards away from cookers
  • installing more power outlets
  • removing clutter
  • replacing bulky furniture that impedes escape and encourages fire spread.

These measures have an average cost of about $500 and should be within the reach of most owner-occupiers.

For more

BRANZ Study Report SR291 Fire safety features in houses can be downloaded for free at www.branz.co.nz/study-reports.

Download the PDF

Articles are correct at the time of publication but may have since become outdated.

Figure 1: Fire hazard condition score.
Figure 2: Average cost of repairs from the 2010 BRANZ House Condition Survey.

Advertisement

Advertisement