THE Range has pulled some of its Halloween costumes from shelves after an investigation by The Sun revealed they catch light in six seconds.
But parents are still being warned to check labelling and stay fire safe as we test the fire resistance of costumes from a number of major retailers.
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We tested eight costumes from high-street retailers and supermarkets to see how fire safe they were as we head into the time of year when candles, fires and bonfire parties are all too common.
Experts have called for years for improvements to the safety of products, but our investigation still found that children are at serious risk of horrifying burns if they pick the wrong outfit.
We tested the fire resistance of costumes from eight big name shops and all of them caught fire within seconds.
While some had undergone additional testing and proved resilient, other costumes took just a matter of minutes to melt away entirely.
All of the costumes had warnings on their labels, telling the wearer to keep away from fire. They all also met the CE regulations of toy fire safety.
Three of the outfits had undergone additional testing, which is not compulsory but can make an outfit far more fire resistant.
Most of the costumes which caught alight melted into a stick substance that can cause agonising burns if it comes into contact with the skin.
Others released a noxious smoke because of the plasticky or foamy materials the costume was made of.
Two of the costumes burnt away entirely, leaving just a few fragments of material and a pile of ash behind.
Our investigation comes six years after the government pledged to launch a nationwide investigation into the safety of kids’ costumes.
It also follows campaigns to change the safety rules of fancy dress wear, and after TV presenter Claudia Winkleman’s daughter’s Halloween outfit went up “like a fireball”.
A major problem that parents buying any fancy dress costumes for their kids face is that they’re classed as toys rather than clothing.
That means they’re subject to different regulations.
To be classed as safe for sale, clothing must have a maximum burn rate of 10mm per second – that’s considered enough time for you to get the garment off if it catches light.
But toys can burn at a maximum rate of 30mm per second – that’s considered long enough for a child to get away from a teddy bear or toy car that catches light.
But it’s the same rule applied to fancy dress items, which they will be wearing and will therefore take longer to be free of.
But, while high street retailers are subject to these laws, online sellers may be able to bypass them.
Steve Parker, education officer at Essex Fire & Police, said some of the most dangerous and flammable costumes he had seen had come from online retailers.
He said: “Sometimes products sold online are not tested to the regulations and they will go up almost immediately. We found costumes as cheap as £2 online and at that price they are just not going to have been tested.”
Retailers can choose to test their fancy dress costumes more stringently, but this is not compulsory.
If an item has undergone more rigorous testing you’ll see a warning triangle label on the garment to indicate this.
This label will say: “This garment has undergone additional safety testing for flammability” and is different from the usual standard red fire warning triangle.
That’s a problem at this time of year when many families enjoy bonfire parties and trick or treating, and when our homes are far more likely to have the fire on or be lit up with candles.
So we tested eight garments to see how quickly it took for them to catch fire and whether they burned out or kept smoldering.
The items were set alight by firefighters at Southend Fire Brigade using a gas canister lighter.
We attempted to include costumes from Lidl and Aldi but could find none in stock at the stores we checked.
Matalan Day of the Dead Tuxedo
Age tested: 6-7 years
Fabric: 100% polyester
Price: £14
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The Matalan costume came in two pieces, a pair of trousers and a tuxedo-style jacket with a Day of the Dead theme.
It caught fire very quickly, with the fire considered as sustained within nine seconds.
The costume burned quickly and within 3 minutes and 36 seconds seconds there was very little of the jacket left.
Home Bargains Werewolf
Age tested: 5-6 years
Fabric: 100% polyester
Price: £8.99
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The fire caught the costume within around five seconds, but struggled to take hold.
Further attempts to set it alight saw the fire sustain within about 32 seconds but it burned slowly.
The experiment was ended at 3 minutes 25 when it burned out.
The costume had the triangle label indicating that it had undergone additional testing, which certainly appeared to lead to a more fire resistant costume in this instance.
Tesco Pumpkin Dress
Age tested: 3-4 years
Fabric: 100% polyester (50% or more recycled material)
Price: £7
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Another costume that had undergone additional testing, the material melted very quickly under the heat of the flame.
It was 1 minute 40 before the fire properly sustained on the garment, but because it had melted so much under the heat there was little left of the costume at 3 minutes 15 seconds.
Sainsbury’s Day of the Dead dress
Age tested: 5-6 years
Fabric: 90% polyester, 10% polyamide
Price: £12
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Given the amount of extra material on this dress, it was surprising that it took around 52 seconds before the fire had properly taken hold of the garment.
This costume also had the triangle indicating that it had undergone the additional, non-compulsory testing.
Again, this appears to have led to a more fire resistant garment.
However, there was not much of the costume left by the time it burned out at 4 minutes 3 seconds.
Wilko Corpse Bride
Age tested: 5-6 years
Fabric: 100% polyester
Price: £8.50
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The Wilko dress caught fire quickly and the fire had sustained by around 20 seconds.
As the timer reached 4 minutes 3 seconds, there was little left of the outfit or its accompanying headband.
The Range Spider
Age tested: 18-24 months
Fabric: 100% polyester
Price: £6.99
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The Range’s spider outfit was the most shocking to watch, as it caught fire very quickly, within 6 seconds.
The cute, squishy costume contained lots of foam, which burned quickly and dropped in globs to the ground.
Within 3 minutes 36 seconds there was barely any of the costume left.
This was particularly frightening to watch because of the young age the outfit was designed for.
Asda Clown Suit
Age tested: 11-12 years
Fabric: 100% polyester
Price: £13
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The clown costume was aflame within 11 seconds but the fire struggled to catch hold properly.
It was over 1 minute before the fire had sustained.
At 5 minutes 30 there was little of the costume left, including the accompanying face mask.
B&M Clown Dress
Age tested: 7-8 years
Fabric: 100% polyester
Price: £10
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The Clown dress seemed like a contender for fast burning, given it consisted of fluffy pom-poms, voile sleeves and a taffeta skirt.
While the dress caught fairly quickly and the fire had sustained within 32 seconds, however, the dress proved fairly resilient.
It burned very slowly and went out a couple of times, with the firefighters attempting to reignite it. It burned out at 5 minutes 58 seconds.
What the stores said
We approached all of the retailers feature for comment and they all told us that safety was their top priority and their costumes had been tested.
The Range said it was removing the remaining stock of the Spider costume from sale as a precaution, but added that it had undergone rigorous safety testing and meets all requirement standards including the BRC enhanced flammability rest.
Tesco told us it had taken addition steps such as removing glitter from all its costumes and making safety labels bigger and more visible.
Top tips for keeping kids safe over Halloween
Check your costume is CE certified
Look for the CE mark in the label and be wary if a costume is incredibly cheap – if it seems too good to be true, it probably is
Use LED candles rather than wax candles where possible
These should also be CE certified. You should see this mark clearly on the product and it will indicate it meets fire safety regulations
Teach your children the Stop, Drop and Roll technique
If they are set alight they should stop still as running around will mean more oxygen gets to the flames causing the fire to spread, they should then drop to the floor, and roll to starve the fire of oxygen and extinguish it.
If you are burned don’t take clothing off
If it has melted or burned and fused to the skin this will hurt. Soak it in water and seek medical attention immediately. If the fire is still going, smother it with a blanket to starve it of oxygen.
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