Video: View the TV Report
Area fire officials are hoping a test Monday at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), will eventually lead to what they see as some important changes in building codes.
As 9 News first reported in February, firefighters are seeing fires spread from home to home where houses are built less than 10 feet apart.
NIST created a mockup representing two single family homes set 6 feet apart. The test showed that a fire started in just one room of one of the homes took only 3 minutes and 40 seconds to break through a window. At that point flames began to melt the vinyl siding on the wall of the second home. By 5 minutes the fire had burned away the siding and began destroying the Oriented Strand Board (OSB) underneath.
NIST says the 6 foot separation and the materials used in the mockup are common in many newer developments.
Prince William County, Virginia Battalion Fire Chief Ray Scott says the laboratory fire is typical of what he has been seeing in his community. Firefighters are finding that in houses spaced less than 10 feet apart fire can spread to an adjoining home before firefighters arrive.
Scott has been leading the charge to change building codes to require outside walls to have a fire resistant barrier when spacing is less than 10 feet.
Representatives of the building industry witnessing today's test believe the statistics show that this issue is not a major problem. Matt Dobson of the Vinyl Siding Institute also said this problem was not a life safety issue, something disputed by Chief Scott.
A second test is expected to be conducted as early as next week. In that test the mockup will be identical with the exception of a layer of gypsum board underneath the vinyl siding.
Related
- Washington Post Report:
Too Close Together, Housing Faces Larger Fires
