WHEN 3 MINUTES MAY BE THE REST OF YOUR LIFE !
Your house is on fire. When will firefighters arrive?
Time is your lifeline.
After researching the rapidly increasing rate in which modern homes are burning with newer building materials, the Underwriters Laboratories Firefighter Safety Institute concluded: “You used to have seventeen minutes to get out of your house. That 17 minutes is down to 3 minutes and if you’re asleep, three minutes is not a lot of time to get out of your home.” *
In 1965, Oriented Strand Board [OSB] revolutionized the timber industry by efficiently utilizing and optimizing wood fibers. These Engineered Wood Products” [EWP], (particles of wood strands glued and compressed to any size or thickness) created a viable alternative to plywood and dimensional lumber by producing straighter boards and longer joist spans at less cost. Although tested and “built according to the International Building Code,” the question is: Are these modern materials as safe as solid wood, when fire is at your doorstep?
According to the USDA Forest Service: “A home built with OSB panels burns significantly faster than lumber/plywood products, providing significantly less time to escape.” With regard to the necessity of fire-resistant treated OSB, the study concludes: “The fact that we do not have a viable FR- treatment technology for OSB is a significant problem in aggressively pursuing the OSB market for multi-family residential and commercial construction.” **
Oriented Strand Board, commonly known as (OSB), is made with compressed resin coated wood chips.
This inherent fire danger is not slowing down the proliferation of OSB into the housing market. In 2017, 21.2 Billion square feet of OSB was produced by 9 companies for North America.
In the past 50 years, the rapid burn characteristics of OSB have not changed. With few exceptions, it is the contractor’s responsibility to make an OSB/I-Joist comply with the fire-retardant building code.
However, new technologies, such as Safeguard XFR, are available which enable the manufacturer to produce fire retardant OSB products. Would use of these technologies ensure reliable protection for the consumer?
We know this staggering fact about unprotected OSB; it burns to ash rapidly. “*Untreated OSB typically ignites in 11 seconds, and ultimate failure can take as little as 4 minutes and 44 seconds.” [Systematic Laboratory Testing Results]
According to this information, one can only conclude that the current lack of protection is inadequate.
Just ask the professionals who fight fires on the front lines.
We are here to change those statistics because we believe Safeguard XFR is the solution to EWP fire safety. When fire is at the doorstep every homeowner and first responder deserves the invaluable “lifeline of time” when it is desperately needed.
Please visit www.safeguardxfr.com or contact us at 863.665.8899 for more information about this life-saving solution.
*(https://wjla.com/features/7-on-your-si de/7-on-your-side-investigates-which-homes-burn-faster)
**(https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237791769_Fire_performance_of_oriented_strandboard)