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- Fire statistics monitor: Covering period up to 30 June 2008
Fire statistics monitor: Covering period up to 30 June 2008
| Published | 8 May 2009 |
|---|
The latest fire statistics for the UK covering the 12-month period up to 30 June 2008 continue to show a fall in the total number of primary fires - down 11 per cent and now at their lowest total since 1981.
The Fire Statistics Monitor is published quarterly by Communities and Local Government and includes provisional figures on fires, fire deaths and injuries, and false alarm calls.
Key statistics in today's monitor include:
- The United Kingdom Fire and Rescue Services attended 773,000 fire and false alarm incidents in the year ending June 2008 - an 11 per cent decrease on the previous 12 months
- Total UK fires fell by 15 per cent to 362,000 and are at their lowest since 1988
- All UK fire deaths (including accidental and deliberate) increased by 5 per cent to 476, contrary to the long term downward trend. Within this there were 352 fire deaths in England, up 1 per cent from 349.
Primary fires fell by 11 per cent to 137,000. Within this, dwelling fires are at their lowest since 1977 (51,000, down 6 per cent), fires in other buildings - including workplaces and areas where people gather - are down by 10 per cent to 29,000 and road vehicle fires again fell (by 15 per cent to 47,000) to their lowest total since 1989 - Secondary fires fell by 19 per cent to 215,000
- Attendances at false alarms decreased by 7 per cent to 410,000. Within this there was a 16 per cent fall (to 28,000) in malicious false alarms and a 6 per cent fall (to 267,000) in false alarms due to apparatus.
The Fire Statistics Monitor is available on the Department's website. Also on the website is the latest annual statistical bulletin, Summary Fire Statistics United Kingdom, 2006, which contains trends and analysis for the years 1996-2006.
Notes to editors
1. The figures in the quarterly 'Fire Statistics Monitor' publication are compiled from reports submitted to Communities and Local Government on fires and false fire alarms attended by the fire and rescue service throughout the UK.
2. Detailed information is collected on all fires in buildings, vehicles and outdoor structures and any fires involving casualties or rescues (ie "primary" fires). Less detailed aggregated information is collected on "secondary" and chimney fires; so subsequent analysis of them is limited.
3. "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).
4. 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. 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 main area of uncertainty is whether fire was the cause of death in road accident fatalities.
5. Fire Statistics are part of the National Statistics series which are produced to high professional standards, as set out in the National Statistics Code of Practice. For more information on National Statistics see www.statistics.gov.uk (external link).
6. Traditionally there has been a lag from the time a fire incident occurred to publishing finalised fire statistics. This was due to data being submitted by Fire and Rescue Services through a paper-based system. The Quarterly Monitors were introduced to reduce this lag by providing users with more up to date but provisional data.
7. A new method of collecting this information was introduced from October 2007 with data being collected electronically using the Incident Recording System (IRS). As of April 2009, all Fire and Rescue Services began to move towards submitting their data using this new system. Current constraints on analysis of fires will soon begin to be reduced and outputs, including this publication, will be available more quickly.
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