The figures in the quarterly “Fire Statistics Monitor” publication are provisional figures compiled from reports submitted to the Department for Local Government and Communities (DCLG) on fires, fire deaths and injuries, and false fire alarms attended by the fire and rescue service throughout the UK. The latest figures for fatalities are provisional and subject to revision as information supplied by the fire and rescue service needs to be cross-checked against the cause of death that appears on the death certificate.
The latest national fire statistics covering the 12-month period up to 30 September 2005 continue to show a fall in the total number of fire related deaths - now the lowest since 1959.
A person whose death is attributed to a fire is counted as a fatality even if death occurred weeks or months later. However, it is not always the case that fire was the cause of death.
Key statistics are as follows:
- The UK fire and rescue service attended 870,000 fires or false alarms (698,000 in England) in the 12-month period up to 30 September 2005 – 8% less than in the previous year.
- The total number of fires attended in the UK fell by 11% to 431,000.
- The number of primary fires (fires involving property, vehicles and/or casualties) fell by 10% to 170,000 – the lowest since 1988.
- Secondary fires fell by a 12% to 251,000. There were 58,000 fires in the home, a fall of 7% compared with the previous year.
- In England, there were 344,000 fires consisting of 141,000 primary fires (of which, 46,000 were in dwellings) and 196,000 secondary fires.
- Fire related deaths recorded in the UK fell to 489 - the lowest total since 1959. Of these deaths 300 were from accidental dwelling fires, compared with 358 a year earlier, a fall of 16%.
- Injuries resulting from fires fell by 6% to 14,100 (of these 9,700 were in accidental dwelling fires).
- In England, 366 fire deaths and 11,200 injuries were recorded. There were 216 deaths in accidental dwelling fires compared with 269 in the previous year, a fall of 20%.
- The number of false fire alarms attended in the UK fell by 4% to 439,000. Within this category the number of malicious false alarms fell by 22% to 40,800 whilst false alarms due to apparatus decreased slightly to 284,500. In England, a total of 354,300 false alarms were attended.
The Fire Statistics Monitor is available on the DCLG website: Fire statistics monitors - Department for Communities and Local Government
- “Primary” fires include all fires in buildings, vehicles and outdoor structures or any fire involving casualties, rescues, or fires attended by five or more appliances.
- “Secondary” fires are the majority of outdoor fires including grassland and refuse fires unless they involve casualties or rescues, property loss or five or more appliances attend. They include fires in single derelict buildings.
- Chimney fires are any fires in occupied buildings where the fire was confined within the chimney structure (and did not involve casualties or rescues or attendance by five or more appliances).
