Hello Darren,
I would definitely issue a fire order to have the owner remove the combustible furniture from this alcove. There are a couple sections in Part 2 OFC that immediately come to mind when dealing with this issue 2.4.1.1.(2) & 2.4.1.2. The latter provides you the ability to approve non-combustible furniture in this area i.e. solid wood furniture. This order is easily justified given your past experience with fires occurring of the same nature. I have inspected all of the buildings in North Bay that have a similar configuration to the building in your synopsis and have consistently enforced this section with 100% compliance. Hopefully this helps.
Joe