Prevention

· Drywall

…. Generally, most home interiors are finished with half-inch thickness drywall. Only garage walls and some kitchens come equipped with five-eighths inch “fire-rated” drywall.

For a few extra dollars, you can slow the spread of a fire from room to room or from the outside in by simply using five-eighths inch throughout your new home or remodeled room. Better yet, go all the way to one and a quarter inches (two layers of five-eighths inch) in those high risk areas, like surrounding your kitchen, floor to ceiling, wall to wall, your laundry facilities, and any wall proximate to your attached garage, including ceilings.

In addition, if you have a work or craft area where you use electrical appliances to create heat or fire, use this extra protection here. Finally, furnace rooms and home offices are high on the list of recommended areas for added protection.

As a bonus, the guys who installed my drywall, or rockers, as they call themselves, told me with five-eighths inch you rarely see any mudding flaws or time-related wear that you see with half inch. In fact, it is what they put in their own homes. It is easier to mud and wallpaper!

Drywall Thickness and Burn time Suppression:

• Half inch = twenty minutes
• Five-eighths inch = sixty minutes
• Three quarter inch = seventy-five minutes
• One and one quarter inch = one hundred twenty minutes
  
  - Courtesy of Deputy Chief Christopher Millard
  
  

Prevention

Safety

Protection

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"This near tragedy will help prevent others in the future. The lessons that Candace Quinn has laid out here are intended to save others the grief she has suffered, and will save lives if people heed her well documented advice. Sprinkler! Sprinkler! Sprinkler! "
-- Chief John Norman,
Operations Division, FDNY