MEDIA ADVISORY
WHAT: Live burn demonstration of a fully-furnished house to promote “Close Before You Doze” public safety campaign
Media can tour and record the prop home before and after the fire, and access video and thermal imaging recorded in every room during the fire.
WHO: Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel
Stephen Kerber, Director of the UL Firefighter Safety Research Institute
WHEN: TUESDAY, Oct. 10 at 12:30 p.m.
WHERE: Delaware County Emergency Services Training Center
1600 Calcon Hook Road
Sharon Hill, Pa.
The Philadelphia Fire Department and UL Firefighter Safety Research Institute (FSRI) will burn a fully-furnished home during Fire Prevention Week to show how quickly fire can engulf a modern home and how residents can better protect themselves simply by closing doors. Researchers will also release the latest report on residential fires in the U.S.
FSRI’s “Close Before You Doze” public safety campaign highlights this fact unknown to millions of Americans: Closing your bedroom door before you go to sleep can slow the spread of a fire and lessen the impact of potentially deadly heat and smoke.
Forty years ago, residents had an average of 17 minutes to escape a burning home after the activation of a smoke alarm. Today, that time has dropped to three minutes or less.
New research by FSRI has shown that evolutions in home furnishings and construction materials, as well as the more open layouts of modern homes, allow a fire to spread much faster.