Imagine a raging fire in your bedroom caused by your mattress. It could happen if you own bedding that is not up to code.
Fox 29 Investigates has found second-hand mattresses sold in our area that may pose significant fire risks..
"I'm surprised, I didn't expect any of this.I'm mad, I'm so mad."
Natasha Correa of Philadelphia says she is fuming because the mattress she bought earlier this year for one of her daughters is not only used, it's dirty, stained and doesn't have a required label stating that it meets a flame resistance standard set by the federal government. Correa is upset because her mattress could be a dangerous fire hazard
"It's crazy to think about what could have happened," Correa says."If there was a fire my daughter would have died. It's crazy."
The threat is real according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Hundreds of people die each year in mattress and bedding fires. As a result, the CPSC adopted a new flammability standard in 2007. Now, in addition to the older smoldering cigarette rule, both new and renovated mattresses must pass an open flame test.
Under the new law, mattresses are allowed to catch fire, but they can not become fully ablaze. The smaller flames give people time to discover fires and escape. All mattresses manufactured after 2007 are subject to the law and must also be sold with a label indicating they meet the new standard. The law applies to both new and renovated mattresses.
To find out if second-hand bedding being sold in our area is up to code, we took three mattresses to the Mercer County Fire Academy in Lawrenceville, New Jersey where they could be safely set on fire. For our tests, we used mattresses we bought for an earlier Fox 29 report that aired in May. That investigation showed that some used mattresses sold in neighborhood stores were dirty, stained and crawling with bacteria. We bought the mattresses in Philadelphia and New Jersey
Our tests were not scientific. We used two Tiki torches. The government uses two propane powered burners. Our flames were much smaller. Even so, two of the mattresses burst into flames and became fully involved in just a few minutes. A second-hand mattress we bought in New Jersey ignited, but quickly went out.
Both mattresses that burnt did not have labels stating they met the government flammability standard. The mattress that burned but went out, did.
We showed our test results to New Jersey State Fire Marshall, Bill Kramer.
"My initial reaction would be that the two that burned hard were probably non-compliant," Kramer said after looking at video of the burning mattresses.
Kramer says a New Jersey law passed in 2007 allows fire officials to enforce the federal flammability standard. Now officials can go into stores, check labels for compliance, and issue violations if the mattresses are not up to code. Kramer says the open flame standard can help save lives.
"If a fire starts in a bed that you're sleeping in we're not going to be real successful in saving you," Kramer says. "But we're hoping that with compliance and together with smoke alarms, we can save other residents of the building or the home.
Jaki Ablrecht of Succasunna, New Jersey knows first-hand just how deadly a mattress fire can be. She recalls with horror the smoke in the upper floors of her home that was "so heavy and so dark and black." Albrecht says "it looked like it was nighttime going up the stairs."
Several years ago, a spark from an electrical outlet ignited a mattress her son, Matthew, was sleeping on. In minutes, smoke and flames filled his room.
Veteran Roxbury New Jersey firefighter, Adam Alberti, was the first to reach the 14 month old in his crib. Alberti recalls, through tears, that he was "feeling around inside the crib and there he was. I grabbed him and I was like wow."
Alberti made a heroic rescue of the child, but young Matthew died four days later. He recalls the passing of the boy as "a rough day." Matthew's mother says not a day goes by without her thinking of the child she lost. But it appears the young boy's spirit lives on in an important piece of legislation that may well save lives in New Jersey.
Matthew's death was the inspiration for the Matthew Albrecht Act. The act, passed by the New Jersey Legislature, gives state fire officials the power to enforce the federal government's flammability standard. That standard requires all bedding made after 2007, either new or refurbished, be flame-resistant. Jaki Albrecht believes it puts some teeth in the federal law and will help save lives.
The Albrecht Act allows local fire officials to crack down on manufacturers and stores that sell potentially dangerous mattresses in the Garden State. If local officials find mattresses not in compliance with federal regulations they can impose fines and other penalties.
While the law appears to give New Jersey officials an important new tool in keeping potentially dangerous bedding out of consumers' homes, Fox 29 Investigates finds Pennsylvania has no such authority. And because there is no oversight, mattresses, which could pose a fire-risk, are on store shelves.
Fox 29 Investigates took a hidden camera into three Philadelphia stores looking to see if used mattresses were labeled properly. In our search, we found nearly every second-hand mattress did not have a label with the required government fire safety standard listed. Sales people in some of the stores told us they were not aware of the law.
There is a simple reason these potentially dangerous mattresses remain available to unsuspecting consumers. There is no enforcement. State regulators in the Department of Labor and Industry tell Fox 29 they have no authority to enforce the federal fire-safety standard. That job is left to the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission. A spokesperson for the Commission says it has a "rigorous inspection program" and claims it has busted non-compliant mattress makers including a Brooklyn, New York manufacturer. But the spokesperson admits the Commission has had no busts lately in Philadelphia.
The Consumer Produce Safety Commission has urged Fox 29 Investigates to provide the agency with the names of the stores where we found potentially dangerous mattresses being sold. Fox 29 Investigates has told commission staff the names of some of the stores and manufacturers would be revealed in our reports.
Jaki Albrecht says "it is not acceptable that some states are not able to enforce the federal standards." She believes hitting people in their pocketbooks is the only way manufacturers are going to conform to standards.
