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Lower fire fatality numbers provide little comfort
Thanks to smoke detectors, sprinklers, better construction and stronger fire codes, the U.S. has made great strides in reducing fire fatalities. In 1974, there were about 12,000 fire fatalities annually.
Thirty years later, the number of victims totaled about 3,900, according to the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) in its latest analysis of fire statistics. (Some of the decline may also be attributed to the fewer number of smokers as smoking contributes to 20 percent of household fires.)
Yet despite the encouraging news, the USFA says "the United States has a severe fire problem, more so than is generally perceived." In fact, the report notes, deaths and injuries from fires far outnumber those from all natural disasters combined (floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, etc). That's 4,000 deaths annually from fires compared to 200 to 250 per year from disasters. What's more, even though the rate of 13.6 deaths per million population is half what it was in the late 1970s€š it is still almost two-and-a-half times that of several European nations. In fact, of 25 industrial nations examined by the World Fire Statistics Centre, the U.S. ranks fourth highest in fire death rates, USFA says.
The problem, USFA says, is in the home. The largest percentage of deaths,€š 76 percent in 2004,€š occurred in residences, with the majority in one and two-family dwellings. Cooking was the leading cause of fires, accounting for 28 percent, with incendiary and suspicious fires (arson) the second leading cause, accounting for 21 percent. Arson, however, accounts for 28 percent of the deaths, with smoking-related fires the second leading cause at 18 percent. Cooking fires comprise only 6.3 percent of deaths.
Other interesting data from the report:
There is a surprisingly large number of vehicle fires,€š nearly one out of every five fires to which fire departments respond.
The Southeast continues to have the highest fire death rate in the nation and one of the highest in the world.
African Americans have much higher fire death rate per capita than the national average, accounting for 24 percent of fire deaths, nearly twice as high as their share of the overall population.
Approximately 50 percent more men die in fires than women. One reason may be that men are more likely to be in dangerous occupations (most industrial fire fatalities are males). Men also suffer more injuries trying to extinguish fires and rescue people.
One thing is clear: It's better to take precautions. To lower the chances of a fire in your home follow this safety checklist from the National Fire Protection Association.
Make sure you have working smoke detectors on every level of your home.
Keep the furnace in working order.
Use a fireplace screen.
Have proper ventilation for heaters and other small appliances.
Do not smoke in bed.
Extinguish all candles when leaving a room or going to sleep.
Use the correct size fuses.
Don't use worn out electrical wiring or run it under rugs or out windows or doors.
Clear away refuse; the less clutter, the less fuel a fire has to feed on. |
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