ATLANTA -- Your home may be secure, but when it comes to fire it can quickly become the most dangerous place for you and your family.

The statistics are grim.

Last year 111 people died in home fires in Georgia, 14 of them children.

And this year, the numbers are on track to climb even higher.

Could something as simple as painting your home add a life saving layer of safety?

We took two cedar dog houses and painted one with standard latex paint.

We painted the other with FireFree 88, a fire resistant paint.

The paints' maker says it contains a water base, non-toxic compound that expands at 350 degrees, providing a barrier to insulate walls, ceilings and other structures from flames and heat.

FireFree 88 claims its flame fighting ingredient is unique in the market and that in some cases; it can contain a fire to a single room and snuff it out.

There are other fire retardant paints on the market, including one made by Benjamin Moore. It's used primarily for industrial and commercial applications, like restaurant kitchens and electrical utility rooms that also have sprinkler systems.

"What that coating would do if it was put over the dry wall, it would slow down ignition rate of that paper to where the sprinkler system would kick in,” says Ed Brooks, the manager of Rosen Paints.

Both structures were painted both inside and out and DeKalb County Fire Captain Eric Jackson stoked the fire to get the flames higher. At just about 7 minutes into the burn, you could see the dog house painted with regular latex paint burned much more than the one painted with fire retardant paint.

At about 9 minutes and 30 seconds, you can finally see the flames are starting to fill the dog house painted with the fire retardant paint and at 15 minutes, flames were coming from both structures, but Capt. Jackson says there is a difference.

"It took longer for the house treated with the special paint to become fully engulfed," says Capt. Jackson.

FireFree 88 isn't cheap -- about $63 a gallon. Though the paint may delay fire from burning walls, in most cases, smoke from objects in a room is the killer -- paint can't stop that. So it bears repeating, your best, basic safety tools for home fires: working smoke detectors and a well-rehearsed escape plan.