A Canterbury teenager’s death in a house fire has been blamed on the government’s failure to regulate flammable foam-filled furniture, with Coroner Mary-Anne Borrowdale calling the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s (MBIE) “hands-off” approach “deplorable”.
Sixteen-year-old Lizzy Marvin died in May 2024 after embers from a fireplace ignited a sofa bed, filling her Burnham home with toxic smoke.
The coroner said that if mandatory safety regulations had been introduced when first recommended in 2010, and revisited in 2019, Lizzy would likely still be alive. Borrowdale warned that more lives will be lost until strict product safety standards and fire warnings are enforced.
Lizzy’s mother, Anne-Marie Marvin, described the harrowing night of the fire and her daughter’s final moments, saying she was still struggling with the loss. The coroner’s report highlighted how quickly the foam sofa combusted, likening its fuel load to 10 litres of petrol, and how smoke and flames rapidly made the house “unsurvivable.”
Borrowdale urged urgent regulation, permanent warning labels, and a shift to fire-retardant materials.
MBIE defended its policy of non-binding industry guidance, but said it would “consider” the findings.
Horrible way to go.
Not nice
Indeed. Shows too how little this government cares about its fellow New Zealanders, in spite of their sleazy talk abut “safety’.
MBIE just as arrogant and out of touch, as the rest of the so called government. I see too they want to allow an increase of dairy industry run off in our water supply, even allowing corporate’s, to sue councils for doing the right thing with regulations. This coalition disgust me.
Labour had 6 years to fix this.
corporate corruption
I burnt an old sofa last year – went up like a rocket with flames to around 10m. I made the decision after that to ensure any soft furniture would be filled with wool Say, here’s another angle sheep farmers could pursue …
Unbelievable!! The only solutions the replies here are “we need more regulations, because it is the government’s responsibility to protect my children”. Stop it! It’s the parent’s fault, and the schools who have actually removed fire safety from education. Who puts a foam mattress Infront of a fire without a guard?? Firesafety 101 duh.
Buy NZ wool to help prevent this.