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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Marty Ahrens, MSW, Fire Analysis and Research Division, National Fire Protection Association, 1 Batterymarch Park, Quincy, MA 02169-7471, (617) 984-7463, mahrens@nfpa.org

Healthy People 2010 aims to reduce the residential death rate from 1.2 deaths per 100,000 in 1998 to 0.2 deaths per 100,000 in 2010.(1) Statistics about fires attended by U.S. fire departments can help prioritize areas for educational and technological intervention as well as identify areas requiring future research.

In 2004, U.S. fire departments responded to an estimated 1,550,500 fires, resulting in 3,900 civilian fire deaths and 17,785 reported civilian fire injuries. Roughly 82% of the civilian fire deaths and 77% of the civilian fire injuries resulted from fires in the home. Thirteen percent of the civilian fire deaths resulted from highway-type vehicle fires. As of 1999-2002, cooking activities remain the leading cause of home fires and home fire injuries while fires started by smoking materials cause the largest share of home fire deaths. Almost all homes have at least one smoke alarm. But a working smoke alarm was present at only 26% of the home fires resulting in death. Although collisions or overturns cause only three percent of the highway-type vehicle fires, post-collision fires account for roughly half of the highway vehicle fire deaths.

Using primarily national estimates from the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) (2) and the National Fire Protection Association's (NFPA's) annual fire department survey, this paper will provide an overview of the current U.S. fire problem and trends in said problem.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, the participant will be able to

• Describe the magnitude of the fire, fire death and fire injury problem in the U.S.
• Identify the leading causes of U.S. fires, civilian fire deaths and civilian fire injuries and recommended prevention strategies.
• Identify sources of fire experience/injury data and discuss the strengths and limitations of said data.

Keywords: Injury Prevention, Injury Risk

Related Web page: www.nfpa.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered