Firefighters: Homes burn faster now than years ago

Jenna King January 18, 2021

Last Updated: January 18, 2021

JOSEPHINE COUNTY, Ore. —Firefighters say 30 years ago you had about 15 minutes to escape a house fire, today you only have a few minutes.

Rural Metro Fire in Josephine County is continuing to educate the public through an interactive virtual video.

The 360-degree video experience is meant to give different perspectives of how a fire spreads inside a room.

It says lower quality construction materials, open floor plans, and plastic based furniture, all contribute to rapid fire spread.

“To show people of how quickly fire can actually advance in a room, its down to the minutes now, just maybe 1 minute 2 minutes that you have to react,” says Austin Prince with Rural Metro Fire.

Rural Metro Fire says your best defense in surviving a fire includes always having working smoke alarms, keeping fire extinguishers handy, and creating an escape plan that everyone in your family understands.

Jenna King

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Jenna King is the 6pm and 11pm anchor for NBC5 News. Jenna is a Burbank, CA native. She graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Broadcast Journalism and a minor in Sports Business. During her time at Oregon she was part of the student-run television station, Duck TV. She also grew her passion for sports through her internship with the PAC 12 Network. When Jenna is not in the newsroom you can find her rooting for her hometown Dodgers, exploring the outdoors or binging on the latest Netflix release.