Metropolitan Fire Chiefs
Louisville Conference
President Chief Ned Pettus
Chief Stephen Dean
Chief Greg Frederick
United States Fire Administration
Who We Are – Where We Stand
Glenn A. Gaines, Deputy Fire Administrator
Fire is Everyone’s Fight
2
Studies and Research
Chris Matthews
Environmental Scanning
Impact on the Fire Service
News You Can Use
• NFPA 1917 Standard for Automotive
Ambulances taking comments.
• Australian Smoke Alarm Research
– 120 children ages 5 to 15
– Asleep 1 to 3 hours
– 75% did not awaken
– Ages 5 to 10 90% did awake after 30 minutes in
alarm.
Risks Real – Today – Emerging
•
•
•
•
•
Photovoltaic
Bio Fuels (production – transport – dispensing)
Increase Out of Hospital Service Demand
Larger Multi-Lingual and Cultural Society
Deterioration of Apparatus and Equipment Due
to Lack of Revenue Investment
• Reduction in Staffing and Response Capability
• Lost Investment in Training
Ambulance Occupant Safety Crash Testing with NIOSH
Impact Direction
25 MPH !
7
Ominous Multiple
Impending Conditions
Fire is Everyone’s Fight
Future Residential Fire Risk
80 Million
Boomers
310 million = 26%+
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Fire is Everyone’s Fight
Ominous Threat
Older Adult Fatalities in Home Fires
 75> age group 3 times as likely to
suffer a fire related death
 85> age group 4 times more likely
suffer a fire related death
Fire is Everyone’s Fight
10
Lightwood Frame
and
Residential Building Design
Horizontal Balloon Construction
Fargo, Oct. 2010
Two FFs Trapped
12
Lightweight Construction
• Less mass + increased surface area = reduced the time to
structural failure in a fire.
13
Fire is Everyone’s Fight
NIST Studies
Available Safe Escape Time (ASET)
Typical Household
Compared to a similar study in 1975
17 minute ASET
NIST Indiana Dunes II Study (R35) in 2007
3 minutes ASET
14
Fire is Everyone’s Fight
Codes Allowing Clustering of
Homes
15
Fire is Everyone’s Fight
Manassas, VA
September 23, 2010
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16
Fire is Everyone’s Fight
Fire is Everyone’s Fight
26% of Residential Fatalities
Occurred in Residential Occupancies
With Working Smoke Alarms
C3# – 138 Hz
C5 – 523.25 Hz
G7 – 3,136 Hz
Fire is Everyone’s Fight
Fires Spreading Faster
Fires Burning Hotter (1800 – 2000F)
Loosing Battle for Residential Sprinklers in
1 and 2 Family Homes.
Lightwood Frame Construction.
Limited Separation of Combustible 1 and
2 Family Residential Homes.
80 Million Boomers (26% increase)
Fire is Everyone’s Fight
Clear and Present Danger
To our citizens
To our firefighters
Fire is Everyone’s Fight
Clear and Present Danger (n).
A standard for judging when freedom of speech can
be abridged; "no one has a right to shout `fire' in a
crowded theater when there is no fire because such
an action would pose a clear and present danger to
public safety" danger - the condition of being
susceptible to harm or injury; "you are in no danger";
"there was widespread danger of disease"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University,
Farlex Inc.
Fire is Everyone’s Fight
Firefighting Is not what it used to be.
Under Writers Laboratory
Field Tests
• One-story, 1200 ft2, 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom house
with 8 total rooms.
• Two-story 3200 ft2, 4 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom house
with 12 total rooms.
Under Writers Laboratory
• Onset of Firefighter Untenability After Mechanical
Ventilation
• 100 seconds for the one-story house
• 200 seconds for the two-story house.
Fire Growth
From the Laboratory to the Street
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New Era of Firefighting
"The bitterest tears shed over graves
are for words left unsaid and deeds
left undone.”
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Fire is Everyone’s Fight
29
In Partnership With Justice
30
Topical Reporting and Studies
http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/
Google Books
31
United States Fire Causalities
1971
2010
• 9,000 Citizens died due to fire • 3,120 Citizens died due to
fire
• 250,000 Injuries due to fire
• 17,720 Injuries due to fire
• 259 Firefighters LODD
• 72 Firefighters LODD
(plus 15 Hometown Heroes)
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NFIRS
National Fire Incident Reporting System
2010 Data:
• 21,604,749
Incidents Reported
• 22,915 FDIDs Reporting
Enhancement Funding is Stalled
What is the Fire Problem and What
Are We Doing About it?
Residential Fire Incidents
2010
• 1,331,000 fires in the United States
• Approximately 29% in residential structures
1 and 2 Family Homes
279,000
Multi Family Homes
90,500
Other Residential
14,500
Total Residential Fires
384,000
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Impact of Residential Structure Fires
2010
 3,120 total Civilian Fire Deaths
 17,720 total Civilian Fire Injuries
 2,665 (85%) of Civilian Fire Fatalities in
residential structure fires
 13,800 (78%) of Civilian Fire Injuries in
residential structure fires
Source: NFPA’s Fire Loss in the United States During 2010, September 2011
37
Causes of Residential Structure Fires
Leading Causes of
Residential Structure Fires (2008 - 2010)
Cooking
Heating
Electrical
Other
37%
45%
7%
11%
Source: 2010 NFIRS 5.0 data
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Civilian Fire Fatalities in Residential Buildings by Race (2008–2010)
69.8
White
24.5
Black or African-American
Other, includes multiracial
3.7
American Indian or Alaska Native
1.1
Asian
0.9
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander
0.0
0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0
Percent of Fatalities in Residential Building Fires
Source:
Note:
NFIRS 5.0 data.
Percentages computed for only those fatalities where race
information was available.
Percent of Fatalities in Residential Building Fires
Civilian Fire Fatalities in Residential Buildings by Age
(2008-2010)
20.0
17.2
18.0
16.0
14.6
14.0
13.1
12.4
11.7
12.0
9.1
10.0
7.0
8.0
6.0
7.5
4.5
4.0
2.9
2.0
0.0
0-9
10-19
20-29
30-39
40-49
50-59
60-69
70-79
80-89
90+
Age
Source: NFIRS 5.0 data.
Note:
Percentages computed only for those fatalities where age was valid.
Residential Fires
•
10 year period from 2001 to 2010, the number of residential
structure fires decreased 3%
Residential Structure Fires
420,000
410,000
400,000
390,000
380,000
370,000
360,000
350,000
2001
2002
2003
2004
Source: NFPA's Fire Loss in the United States During 2010, September
2011
2005
2006
2007
Fires
2008
2009
2010
Trend (-3%)
41
Civilian Deaths in Residential Fires
•
10 year period from 2001 to 2010, the number of civilian fire
deaths declined 15%
Civilian Deaths in Residential Structure Fires
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
Source: NFPA's Fire Loss in the United States During 2010, September 2011
Deaths
Trend (-15%)
42
Civilian Injuries in Residential Fires
•
10 year period from 2001 to 2010, the number of civilian fire
injuries declined 10%
Civilian Injuries in Residential Structure Fires
20,000
15,000
10,000
5,000
0
2001
2002
2003
Source: NFPA's Fire Loss in the United States During 2010, September 2011
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
Injuries
2009
2010
Trend (-10%)
43
Cost of Residential Fires
•
10 year period from 2001 to 2010, the adjusted dollar loss
was up 12%
Residential Structure Fires
Adjusted Dollar Loss (in $ millions)
$9,000
$8,500
$8,000
$7,500
$7,000
$6,500
$6,000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
Adj. Dollar Loss (in Millions)
2008
2009
2010
Trend (+12%)
Source: NFPA's Fire Loss in the United States During 2010, September 2011; and
Consumer Price Index
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1960 179,323,175
1970 203,211,926
1980 226,545,805
1990 248,709,873
2000 281,421,906
2010 308,745,538
18.5%
13.3%
11.5%
9.8%
13.2%
9.7%
Community Risk Reduction
Free PSAs
Provided By USFA
http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/campaigns/
46
There Is Much More
47
Come Visit Our Website
http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/
48
Learning Resource Center RSS Feed Digest :
Follow LRC updates:
http://www.lrc.fema.gov/news.xml
•Display of the Month: Avalanches
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•Air Florida Flight 90 and Subway Crash , Washington, DC, January 13,
1982
•Protecting the public from bioterrorism
•In 2011, fewest lightning deaths than any year on record
•Report - Crisis Communications on Twitter: Queensland Floods
49
Data page on the USFA web site:
• http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/statistics/
•
NFIRS page on the USFA web site:
http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/fireservice/nfirs/ind
ex.shtm
Research page on the USFA web site:
http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/research/
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