MORE
Original Ohio.com article: Marshals, furniture group to talk flammability rules
A recent deadly furniture-store fire added urgency to a push for federal flammability standards for upholstered furniture.

Furniture Today, a newspaper that covers the furniture industry, reported Friday that the National Association of State Fire Marshals and the American Home Furnishings Alliance plan to resume discussions toward that end.


The two groups hope to develop a proposal for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. They expect to settle on a meeting date soon, said Andy Counts, chief executive officer of the AHFA, a furniture-industry trade association.
Upholstered-furniture fires kill about 10 people a week, according to the commission. What makes them so deadly is the polyurethane foam commonly used for cushioning, said John Dean, Maine’s fire marshal and president of the national fire marshals group.
The foam burns extremely hot, he said, and emits a thick, black smoke and toxic gases. It also can cause a room to quickly reach the flashover point, when everything bursts into flames — a situation that’s believed to have occurred when fire engulfed the Sofa Super Store in Charleston, S.C., on June 19 and killed nine firefighters.
Plans for the meeting between the fire marshals and furniture makers were in the works before the fire, but ‘there’s certainly been some urgency applied on both sides’ because of the tragedy, Counts said.
The two groups have discussed the issue on and off for a number of years but disagree on whether the standard should address just smoldering fires, such as those started by cigarettes, or whether it should also address fires started by open flames — lighters, matches, candles, etc. That’s important because it would determine the kinds of fire-retardant methods used.
The furniture industry already has a voluntary standard that addresses smoldering fires, which account for most residential upholstery fires. That standard involves the use of a barrier to prevent the fire from penetrating the upholstery fabric and reaching the foam, Counts said.
The fire marshals favor a rule that would address open-flame fires as well as smoldering fires. Slowing those kinds of fires requires adding flame-retardant chemicals to the foam during manufacturing.
That standard is already mandated in California, so most furniture manufacturers that distribute their goods nationally already comply, Counts said.
However, some flame retardants have been linked to health problems, and a few states have either banned those particular chemicals or are considering doing so. Counts said such bans would limit furniture manufacturers’ options and make compliance difficult.
Dean counters that safe alternatives exist, and that other fire-retardant materials can be used in making furniture.
Those are the kinds of issues that are expected to be on the table when the two sides meet. Counts said the furniture makers are open to learning about new techniques or more environmentally friendly chemicals.
‘Basically it’s a fact-finding session,’ he said.
Even if the two sides reach agreement, however, the Consumer Product Safety Commission can’t act on a proposal until a third member is appointed. President Bush’s nominee, Michael Baroody, withdrew his nomination in May amid criticism from consumer groups.