jarhead96
2 HN recommenders · recommended in 3 months, 2017–2021
5:59 · 460K views · Dec 18, 2010
A short NIST-based demonstration places a room furnished with old natural-material furniture beside one with modern synthetic furnishings and burns both. The modern room reaches full flashover in a few minutes while the legacy room is only starting to spread.
HN uses it as vivid proof that modern fires develop much faster, which is the argument for working smoke detectors and early escape.
3 comments from Hacker News
Like my sibling sort of did I want to point out that this possibly was meant to counter another trend. Unfortunately furniture nowadays burn much faster than before. They did an experiment. Built one room with old furniture made from solid wood and other "old style materials" and set it on fire. Then they built another one with modern materials with the typical particle board furniture. Set it on fire. Not many more words needed. Just watch: this video
In regards to the smoke detectors, I love that your department does that! I think what finally drove me to realize how important working smoke detectors are, is that video of a modern room flashing over in like 3 minutes. For those who haven't seen it, here: this video
Life involves risk. We also suck at evaluating risk, and statistics are helpful to a point. You only have one life to live. Life insurance companies spread the everyday risks across many people. Fires spread much faster than they used to because of changes in building materials [1]. I figure if I can find a way to shut it off automatically, it'll buy me 30+ seconds, which is a big deal. I found [2] awhile back, which is what I want, but I'd happily pay for a COTS solution. [1] this video [2] [LINK]