WHO’S AT RISK?
Research Report
October 1998
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
FIRE FATALITIES:
1
2The centre photograph on the front cover has been supplied courtesy of the Toowoomba Chronicle.
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
The authors of this report wish to acknowledge the support of the Australasian Fire Authorities Council
and, in particular, Mr Laurie Lavelle, CEO and Mr Gary Tower; Dr Iraphne Childs, Queensland University
of Technology; Chief Commissioner Wayne Hartley, Queensland Fire and Rescue Authority; the Public
Safety Branch QFRA; the liaison officers of each State and Territory Fire Service; Mr Geoff Skerritt and
the Queensland Coroner’s Office without whose support and cooperation this report would not have
been possible.
Acknowledgement is also given to the Director-General of the Department of Emergency Services,
the former Department of Training and Industrial Relations’ Graduate Development Program for their
generous support of this project.
Our thanks to the members of the Queensland Association of Fire Investigators particularly Mr Terry
Casey and Mr Charles Foley; and to Dr Caird Ramsay and Dr Peter Taylor, Scientific Services Laboratory; Mr
Peter Surman FAI Insurance; and Mullins Builders for their assistance with this project.
Strategic Management and Policy Unit
Strategic & Executive Services Division
Department of Emergency Services
Level 3, Emergency Services Complex
Cnr Park Rd and Kedron Park Rd, Kedron Qld 4031
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
Acknowledgements
3
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
4
Table of Contents
Page No.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................................................................3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................................7
SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS .......................................................................................................... 12
1.
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
2.
Introduction and Project Overview
17
BACKGROUND .................................................................................................................................... 17
SCOPE ................................................................................................................................................... 19
PROJECT AIM ........................................................................................................................................20
PROJECT METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................................20
PROJECT LIMITATIONS .........................................................................................................................22
Queensland
24
2.1 OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................................................ 24
2.2 TIME OF FATAL FIRES ...........................................................................................................................25
2.3 MONTH OF THE YEAR ......................................................................................................................... 27
2.4 TIME OF DAY ........................................................................................................................................28
2.5 DEMOGRAPHIC AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE VICTIMS ..........................29
2.6 PROPERTY TYPE AND OWNERSHIP ...................................................................................................33
2.7 MAJOR CAUSES OF FATAL FIRES .........................................................................................................34
2.8 SMOKE ALARMS ..................................................................................................................................35
2.9 LOCATION OF FATAL FIRES ..................................................................................................................36
2.10 AUSTRALIAN INCIDENT REPORTING SYSTEM AND FIRE INCIDENT REPORTING ......................... 37
3.
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
3.6
4.
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.6
New South Wales
38
OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................................................38
TIME OF FATAL FIRES ...........................................................................................................................38
DEMOGRAPHIC AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE VICTIMS ..........................40
PROPERTY TYPE AND OWNERSHIP ...................................................................................................43
MAJOR CAUSES OF FATAL FIRES .........................................................................................................44
SMOKE ALARMS ..................................................................................................................................45
Victoria
46
OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................................................46
TIME OF FATAL FIRES ...........................................................................................................................46
DEMOGRAPHIC AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE VICTIMS ..........................48
PROPERTY TYPE AND OWNERSHIP ...................................................................................................50
MAJOR CAUSES OF FATAL FIRES .........................................................................................................50
SMOKE ALARMS .................................................................................................................................. 51
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
5.5
5.6
6.
6.1
6.2
6.3
6.4
6.5
6.6
7.
7.1
7.2
7.3
7.4
7.5
7.6
8.
8.1
8.2
8.3
8.4
8.5
8.6
9.
9.1
9.2
9.3
9.4
9.5
9.6
Western Australia
52
OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................................................52
TIME OF FATAL FIRES ...........................................................................................................................52
DEMOGRAPHIC AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE VICTIMS ..........................54
PROPERTY TYPE AND OWNERSHIP ................................................................................................... 57
MAJOR CAUSES OF FATAL FIRES ......................................................................................................... 57
SMOKE ALARMS .................................................................................................................................. 57
South Australia
58
OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................................................58
TIME OF FATAL FIRES ...........................................................................................................................58
DEMOGRAPHIC AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE VICTIMS ..........................59
PROPERTY TYPE AND OWNERSHIP ...................................................................................................62
MAJOR CAUSES OF FATAL FIRES .........................................................................................................62
SMOKE ALARMS ..................................................................................................................................62
Tasmania
63
OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................................................63
TIME OF FATAL FIRES ...........................................................................................................................63
DEMOGRAPHIC AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE VICTIMS ..........................65
PROPERTY TYPE AND OWNERSHIP ...................................................................................................66
MAJOR CAUSES OF FATAL FIRES ......................................................................................................... 67
SMOKE ALARMS .................................................................................................................................. 67
Australian Capital Territory
68
OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................................................68
TIME OF FATAL FIRES ...........................................................................................................................68
DEMOGRAPHIC AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE VICTIMS ..........................70
PROPERTY TYPE AND OWNERSHIP ................................................................................................... 71
MAJOR CAUSES OF FATAL FIRES ......................................................................................................... 71
SMOKE ALARMS ..................................................................................................................................72
Northern Territory
73
OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................................................73
TIME OF FATAL FIRES ...........................................................................................................................73
DEMOGRAPHIC AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE VICTIMS ..........................75
PROPERTY TYPE AND OWNERSHIP ...................................................................................................75
MAJOR CAUSES OF FATAL FIRES .........................................................................................................75
SMOKE ALARMS .................................................................................................................................. 76
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
5.
5
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
6
10.
10.1
10.2
10.3
10.4
10.5
10.6
Australia
77
OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................................................77
TIME OF FATAL FIRES ...........................................................................................................................77
DEMOGRAPHIC AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE VICTIMS .......................... 81
PROPERTY TYPE AND OWNERSHIP ...................................................................................................88
MAJOR CAUSES OF FATAL FIRES .........................................................................................................88
SMOKE ALARMS ..................................................................................................................................89
Appendices
APPENDIX 1
APPENDIX 2
APPENDIX 3
APPENDIX 4
APPENDIX 5
APPENDIX 6
QUESTIONNAIRE ........................................................................................................... 91
PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND OVERSIGHT ................................................................93
CARBOXYHAEMOGLOBIN (COHB) AND SMOKE INHALATION ................................94
SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC SERVICES LABORATORY REPORT .....................................95
BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................................. 97
GLOSSARY OF TERMS .................................................................................................... 98
Introduction
•
The ‘Fire Fatalities: Who’s at Risk?’ project is a
research initiative of the Department of
Emergency Services’ Strategic Management and
Policy Unit in cooperation with the Queensland
Fire and Rescue Authority (QFRA). The project
was conducted with the cooperation of the
Australasian Fire Authorities Council (AFAC) and
other Australian State and Territories Fire Services.
•
The ‘Fire Fatalities: Who’s at Risk?’ project
represents a critical step in the development of
enhanced strategies to reduce the number of
fire fatalities in Australia and, hence, the overall
cost to the community of fires.
The research project examined fire fatality data
relating to all structural fires including mobile
properties such as mobile homes, caravans,
campervans and transportable buildings that have
occurred in both urban and rural areas of Australia
between 1 July 1991 and 30 June 1996. Fires
occurring in selected water transport vessels, as
identified in the Australian Assembly of Fire
Authorities Incident Reporting System, Block J1
Division 4 Codes 41 and 42, were also examined.
In terms of fire categories, all fatal structural fires
either deliberate, accidental/preventable or
undetermined, were examined and incorporated
in the analysis. However, when examining cause
of death in fatal fires, deaths not directly attributed
to the fire such as heart attacks, self inflicted
wounds or suicide were not incorporated directly
into the analysis.
Background
Over the past five years, the QFRA (formerly the
Queensland Fire Service) has placed increasing
emphasis on preventive strategies as a means
of further reducing the loss of life, level of injury
and loss of property due to fires. Recent
community surveys (1995 and 1997) in
Queensland have indicated that a considerable
majority of householders believe that early
warning of smoke and fire is the most critical
factor affecting their safety in the event of a fire.
The community is, therefore, receptive to an
increased emphasis on fire prevention service
delivery strategies.
The need for an increased emphasis to be placed
on prevention strategies has been supported by
suggestions that people who have died in fires
were often dead before the alarm was raised.
The ‘Fire Fatalities: Who’s at Risk?’ project was
initiated to address the lack of quantitative
research in this area, with the results of this
project providing a basis for improving current
Fire Service delivery strategies.
•
Australia
In Australia, 550 fire fatalities occurred in 451
structure fires between 1 July 1991 and 30 June
1996.
Time of fatal fires
A primary area of interest of the research project
was the fire fatality time-related data. The three
categories of data that were of most significance
to this research for each fire death were:
Project overview
•
The ‘Fire at Risk Groups’ project aimed to:
•
•
•
assess any possible relationship between
the estimated time of death of fire victims
and the time the Fire Services were notified
examine any common contributing factors
to fire fatalities
collect demographic and socio-economic
characteristics of the fire victims in order to
assist Fire Services with the targeting of fire
education campaigns to groups in the
community who were most at risk of fire
make recommendations with the aim of
reducing the incidence of deaths in
structural fires.
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
Executive Summary
the time of death relative to the alarm time
of the Fire Service
the month of the year
the time of day when the fire death
occurred.
7
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
8
Results arising from the analysis of these
categories of data will be of importance to Fire
Services’ service delivery strategies.
Time of death analysis
The data relating to victims’ time of death
indicates that it is possible that up to 212 out of
the 251 victims able to be examined were
deceased prior to or coinciding with the Fire
Service alarm time. This finding highlights the
need for continued review of current fire service
delivery strategies with a view to developing more
effective and appropriate strategies with
increased emphasis on fire prevention and other
home fire safety strategies including early
warning of fires such as that provided by smoke
alarms, and practised evacuation drills.
Time of death analysis involved identifying the time
of death either from coroners’, pathologists’ or
police records and comparing this to recorded
alarm time, or examining the level of involvement
of the fire at the time the fire service unit arrived
and making an estimation of the likely time of
death relative to alarm time.
Of the 251 fire death victims for whom sufficient
information was available to conduct analysis:
•
•
•
•
136 victims were recorded as being dead
either prior to or coinciding with the Fire
Service alarm time
76 victims died in fires that were either well
alight, fully involved, heavily smoked or at
least 60 per cent involved at the time of
arrival of the Fire Service
12 victims died in fires that were less than
60 per cent involved at the time of arrival
of the Fire Service
27 victims did not have noted in their
records a level of involvement of the
structure at the time of arrival of the Fire
Services.
These assumptions are reinforced in the study
conducted by Scientific Services Laboratory,
Melbourne into a fire in a residential dwelling in
which three people lost their lives. The body of
evidence from this study indicates that the
occupants of the house were dead before the
fire brigade arrived.
Month of the year
Analysis of Australian data showed that the
majority (62 per cent) of fire fatalities happened
in the second half of the year. June, July and
August were the most frequent months (33 per
cent) when the fire fatalities occurred.
However, this was not the case in South Australia
as the winter months did not record a high
number of fire fatalities. Victoria, South Australia
and Queensland also experienced a distinct preChristmas peak in fire fatalities.
Accidents involving heaters were one of the major
causes of winter fires.
A large number of the accidents involving heaters
occurred by having combustibles too close to the
heating unit. Many of these accidents occurred
when either clothes were put too close to the
heater or bedclothes fell onto the heater
throughout the night. Discarded smoking
materials were also a major cause of the winter
fires in Australia. On the basis of these findings,
it is recommended that Fire Services ensure that
community-based fire safety campaigns address
peak fire fatality periods to alert the community
to common causes of domestic fires.
Time of day
In Australia, a large number of fire fatalities (49
per cent) occurred between midnight and 8.00
am. This finding was typical of most Australian
States. Therefore, it is essential that fire
prevention campaigns continue to reinforce the
need for residential smoke alarms and evacuation
plans, particularly to alert people to a fire when
they are sleeping so they can safely evacuate
the property.
Between midnight and 8.00 am, people are less
likely to observe the initial stages of a fire as they
are usually asleep. As it was highly likely that
most of the victims were asleep at the time of
ignition and in the early stages of the fire when
smoke was produced, the victims would have
been exposed to a high concentration of
gaseous carbon monoxide which would have
affected their mental and physical behaviour. In
Australia, where the cause of death was known
and could be attributed to the fire, a large number
of the victims died as a result of smoke inhalation.
The report has found that the following groups
are at greater risk than average of fatal fires:
•
•
•
•
elderly people aged 65 years and older
children aged between zero and four years
adults affected by alcohol
adults not in the workforce.
Major demographic details of fire fatality victims
were analysed in order to identify possible groups
in the community which were most at risk from
fire deaths. Fire incident data that related
specifically to the circumstances surrounding the
deaths of these identified ‘at risk’ victims was
also analysed. This information will enable Fire
Services to develop promotional and educational
programs specifically targeted to these groups
highlighting appropriate and relevant fire safety
practices.
Of 514 fire death victims, the majority (62 per cent)
of the victims were male. This finding was
constant across all the Australian States. For 375
of the victims, the majority (76 per cent) were
born in Australia.
For those 311 victims who had an occupation listed
and were not classified as children or students,
179 were not in the workforce, with their
occupations being listed as either pensioner,
retired, home duties or unemployed. This finding
was replicated across all the individual Australian
States and Territories. As a large number of the
fire death victims were not employed at the time
of their deaths and probably spent a large
percentage of their time in the home, it is essential
that Fire Services employ public education
strategies that not only target home fire hazards
but are also directed specifically to these ‘at risk’
groups in their own home.
From the research undertaken, it was identified
that alcohol may have contributed to the deaths
of 21 per cent of the victims aged over the legal
drinking age of 18 years. The number of alcoholrelated fire deaths may be underestimated due
to the current system of only testing the blood
alcohol level of fatalities at the time of, or
immediately following, a fire. However, if the
victim dies some hours or days later, no blood
alcohol reading will be recorded because the
alcohol will have dissipated from the victim’s
bloodstream. Similarly, the victims of the fire may
not be responsible for causing the fire and other
people involved in the fire who have not died
may have been affected by alcohol, but no
investigation or record is made.
Property type and ownership
Throughout Australia, residential properties (in
particular one to two family dwellings) were the
most frequently cited property type in which the
fire fatalities occurred. This finding highlights the
need for Fire Services to reinforce and strengthen
their fire prevention efforts on domestic
residences within Australia.
Analysis of data determined both the type of
property most commonly involved in fatal fires
and the ownership of these properties. This
information will enable Fire Services to develop
strategies that maximise fire safety in ‘at risk’
properties to ensure the incidence of fire fatalities
is reduced.
Fire prevention awareness campaigns also need
to be specifically targeted at the public and private
sector rental markets, and also to real estate
agents in order to reduce the number of fires
and fire deaths that occur in rental properties.
In 279 cases where it was possible to determine
the ownership of the properties, 159 of the fire
fatalities occurred in rental properties. This
finding was consistent across all the individual
Australian States and Territories where the
property ownership was identified, except for
Tasmania, where the majority of fire fatalities
occurred in owner-occupied premises. Where it
could be determined, 69 of the rental properties
were privately owned with 45 of the properties
being owned by the Government.
Major causes of fatal fires
Information was collected from all Australian
States and Territories through the Australian
Incident Reporting System (AIRS) system and Fire
Investigation Unit records to determine the major
causes of fatal fires. The three areas of interest
were the category of fire, (eg. if the fire was
classified as being lit accidentally or deliberately),
the factors that caused the fires and the major
cause of death for victims. Fire Services can use
this information to strengthen current educational
programs, highlighting appropriate fire safety
behaviours, to minimise the risk of fire.
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the
victims
9
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
10
Category of fire
Of the cases examined during the research
period, the following occurred:
•
•
•
256 accidental/preventable fires
71 fires that were deliberately lit with the
intention to harm either the person lighting
the fire or others
223 cases where there was insufficient
information recorded to determine the
category of the fire.
The large number of accidental/preventable fires
was consistently reported across all Australian
States and Territories, except in Western Australia
where no fire category was reported. A significant
proportion of the fires were undetermined or not
reported, suggesting that there is a need for
more in-depth investigation to be carried out in
order to determine the specific nature of the fires
that cause death.
Cause of fire
In 254 of the cases, a fire cause was not reported.
Of the other 296 cases where a fire cause was
reported, it was not possible to determine the
cause of the fires in 147 of the Australian cases. In
the remaining 149 cases, the single biggest cause
of fatal fires was accidents involving discarded
smoking materials, lighters or matches. One of
the major areas of concern with accidents of this
nature is that a number of the victims were
unaware of the fact that they had discarded their
cigarette as they were either asleep or intoxicated
with alcohol. Child fire play was also another cause
of these fires involving discarded smoking
materials, lighters and matches.
Cause of death
For 323 of the fire death victims, 181 died as a
result of smoke inhalation, with a further 42
victims dying from the combined effects of burns
and smoke inhalation. This finding further
strengthens the need for Fire Services to continue
to promote the need for smoke alarms to ensure
people have adequate time to escape from the
fire.
Smoke inhalation was the major cause of death
in the majority of the individual States and
Territories, except for Queensland where the
cause of death for the fire death victims was
equally attributed to smoke inhalation (50 per
cent) and burns/incineration (50 per cent). This
anomaly may be due to the fact that a number
of the Queensland victims who had their cause
of death listed as being burns/incineration were
either actively involved in the area of ignition at
the time of the fire and/or, due to their immobility,
may have found it difficult to rapidly escape from
the fire.
Smoke alarms
Where the presence or absence of smoke alarms
was recorded in fatal fire cases, only 7 out of 202
fatalities had smoke alarms present in the
structure at the time of the fire. In one fire
involving two victims, the alarms were present
but failed to operate. In 195 cases, it was
positively identified that there were no smoke
alarms present in the structures. This clearly
indicates that a lack of smoke alarms places
people at an increased risk of death in the event
of a fire. Therefore, there is a need to develop
and implement strategies designed to reach the
‘at risk’ groups with the smoke alarm message.
In the remaining 348 cases, the presence or
absence of smoke alarms was not established.
In order to determine if smoke alarms were present
in properties, data was collected through the AIRS
system for all Australian States and Territories
between 1 July 1991 and 30 June 1996. This
information will enable Fire Services to determine
the effectiveness of smoke alarm promotion to
those people most ‘at risk’ from fire deaths.
Conclusion
The findings of this investigation into fire fatalities
in structures across Australia during the five year
period include:
•
•
an estimate that most fire death victims die
before the fire brigade is notified
that the elderly, the very young and adults
affected by alcohol are at a greater risk of
dying in the event of a fire
•
•
that residential properties were the most
frequently cited property in which fatal fires
occurred (in particular rental properties)
that the major cause of death was smoke
inhalation
that the absence of smoke alarms appear
to contribute to the increased risk of death
in the event of a fire.
The combined effect of these findings adds
significant weight to the need to increase the
emphasis on fire safety and prevention strategies
and to carefully target those groups identified as
most ‘at risk’ from fire deaths.
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
•
11
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
12
Summary of Recommendations
Australian recommendations
(as
detailed in Section 10).
10.1
Fire Services review current service delivery
strategies to ensure an appropriate
emphasis on prevention as part of overall
service delivery strategies.
10.2 Fire Services ensure that the system collects
meaningful data on the time of death for
fire fatality victims.
10.3 Fire Services investigate and adopt, where
appropriate, elements of other successful
community awareness and education
programs, such as those developed by
Departments of Transport and other
Commonwealth and State Government
Departments.
10.4 Fire Services review community-based fire
safety campaigns to ensure that they are
appropriately timed, resourced and relate to
the most common cause of fires.
10.5 Fire Services continue to emphasise in their
respective community-based fire safety
programs:
-
the need for smoke alarms in residential
dwellings
the speed with which structure fires can
develop
the need for well-rehearsed evacuation
plans
the need for parents to evacuate all
children at the same time.
10.6 Where appropriate, Fire Services consider
programs to provide people in the 65 years
and over age group with subsidised smoke
alarm installation.
10.7 The Australasian Fire Authorities Council,
in conjunction with State Fire Services, liaise
with State and Federal Government
agencies to seek agreement to include fire
safety brochures in selected correspondence to pensioners, retirees,
unemployed people and people involved
in home duties.
10.8 Fire Services institute a system to accurately
record the ethnicity of fire death victims.
10.9 Fire Services research other mechanisms for
ensuring effective communication with the
elderly, including doctors, Meals on
Wheels, church groups, messages on, or
inclusions with, electricity/telephone/rates
bills.
10.10 Fire Services develop community-based
education programs to target aged persons
emphasising fire safety issues in kitchens
and the dangers of garments igniting from
exposed heat sources.
10.11 Fire Services review current fire safety
campaigns to ensure that they illustrate the
speed and development of a fire and the
need for parents to evacuate all children at
the same time, as well as the need for
well-rehearsed evacuation plans.
10.12 A publicity campaign be conducted in
conjunction with P & C associations and
other parent groups to encourage parents
to prepare and rehearse fire safety
evacuation plans for the home and
adjoining buildings.
10.13 Fire Services investigate the effectiveness
of current juvenile fire awareness and
intervention programs.
10.14 (i)
Fire Services, where necessary,
develop a team-based approach to
further develop and implement
effective fire safety school education
and awareness initiatives, involving
curriculum specialists, expert teachers,
text book publishers and parent
representatives
(ii) Fire Services initiate discussions with
their respective State-based Departments of Education to second teachers
(curriculum specialists) to assist with
the development of appropriate
curriculum resources and public
education resources which emphasise
effective fire safety messages and
integrate them into the normal school
curriculum.
Queensland recommendations
(as detailed in Section 2).
2.1
Ongoing performance information and key
indicator trends, including the state and
regional fire death rate per 100,000 persons,
be provided on a regular basis by the
Strategic Planning and Development Unit,
QFRA to all regions in Queensland.
Ongoing performance information
comparisons should be made at both a State
and a national level.
2.2
10.18 Fire Services continue to maintain training
of fire personnel in fire scene investigations,
particularly in the areas of determination of
the category and cause of the fire.
QFRA review current service delivery
strategies for fire safety and prevention;
that is, reducing the risk and impact of
fire and other emergencies with a view to
developing more effective service delivery
strategies.
2.3
10.19 Fire Services liaise with all key stakeholders
(Fire Safety, Fire Investigation Unit, Arson
Squad, Police Scientific Services,
Department of Mines and Energy, Fire
Investigation Association) to investigate
causes of fire and sources of ignition to
make the best use of available resources
and information.
QFRA liaise with the Department of Public
Works and Housing on options for
increasing legislative requirements for
smoke alarm installation beyond new
homes, such as mandating the installation
of smoke alarms in private rental properties.
2.4
QFRA liaise with the State Coroners Office
and other relevant stakeholders to discuss
strategies to minimise confusion between
recorded time of death and the actual time
of death for fatal fire victims.
10.20 Fire Services implement strategies to ensure
that operational fire fighters are:
2.5
QFRA research other successful community
fire safety programs to enhance current
community fire safety programs.
2.6
QFRA evaluate the timing of current fire
safety campaigns in conjunction with other
stakeholders such as the Department of
Mines & Energy, Office of Consumer Affairs
and the Electrical Repairers Association, to
ensure that community safety and
awareness campaigns are appropriately
timed to coincide with the two observed
danger periods of winter and preChristmas.
2.7
QFRA review the allocation of resources to
all fire safety and prevention initiatives prior
to identified danger periods to improve
general awareness of fire safety.
10.16 Fire Services cooperatively work with real
estate associations to discuss nonlegislative strategies for the installation of
hard wired smoke alarms to private rental
properties.
10.17 Fire Services and Australian Fire Authorities
Council lobby the Commonwealth
Government to introduce warnings on
cigarette packets highlighting the
relationship between smoking and fires.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
aware of the purpose and
importance of fire incident data
collection
trained in how to complete incident
data forms (including a standard
approach to determining the
valuation of properties)
included in processes to determine
the type of data to be captured
informed of the outcomes of
collation and analysis of the data on
a regular basis.
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
10.15 Fire Services work with the Australasian Fire
Authorities Council to support research into
the development and design of smoke
alarms with pitch, volume and pulse
capabilities to alert inebriated persons to the
presence of a fire.
13
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
2.8
That the performance information provided
by the Strategy, Planning and Development
Unit to stations includes the number of
structure fires per month and the number
of fire fatalities per month on an appropriate
geographical basis to assist service delivery
planning.
2.9
QFRA investigate the feasibility of initiating
community fire safety programs targeted at
families, conducted during the evenings
and using station training areas for such
activities.
2.10
2.17
QFRA review current fire safety campaigns
to ensure that the speed and development
of a fire and the need for parents to
evacuate all children at the same time, as
well as the need for well-rehearsed
evacuation plans, are emphasised.
2.18
A publicity campaign be launched by QFRA
in conjunction with P & C associations and
other parent groups to encourage parents
to prepare and rehearse fire safety
evacuation plans for the home and
adjoining buildings.
QFRA should continue the current emphasis
on smoke alarms in community fire safety
programs.
2.19
QFRA establish a juvenile fire awareness and
intervention program supported at a State
level.
2.11
In particular, due emphasis should be
placed on alerting the community to the
dangers of fires occurring while they are
asleep.
2.12
The feasibility of providing smoke alarms to
specific target groups in the community in
cooperation with local service clubs be
investigated.
2.20 Research be initiated by QFRA into the use
of effective learning strategies to further
enhance children’s awareness of fire safety
issues beyond early childhood years and
extending the ‘Fire Ed’ program to involve
mid primary school age children.
2.13
QFRA fire safety education programs
should be developed to target aged
persons, emphasising fire safety issues in
kitchens and the dangers of garments
igniting from exposed heat sources.
2.14
QFRA and the Australasian Fire Authorities
Commission should contact the clothing
manufacturers associations regarding the
design and flammability of nightgowns,
pyjamas, bathrobes and towels and request
flammability ratings be placed on items after
1 January 2000.
2.15
The Fire Safety Unit, QFRA, liaise with the
Department of Mines & Energy, the Office
of Consumer Af fairs and appliance
manufacturers/retailers to investigate the
feasibility of further promoting the need
to identify, repair or assist in replacing old
or defective electrical appliances.
2.16
14
QFRA research other mediums for ensuring
effective communication with the elderly,
including doctors, carers, adult children,
Meals on Wheels, church groups,
messages, on or inclusions with, electricity/
telephone/rates bills.
2.21 QFRA:
(i)
develop a team-based approach to
further develop and implement
effective fire safety school education
and awareness initiatives, involving
curriculum specialists, expert
teachers, text book publishers and
parent representatives
(ii)
initiate discussions with the
Department of Education to second
two or three teachers (curriculum
specialists) for two years to assist with
the development of appropriate
curriculum resources which
emphasise ef fective fire safety
messages and marketing strategies.
2.22 The Chief Commissioner, QFRA, liaise with
the Director-General, Department of Public
Works and Housing, to discuss nonlegislative means of introducing smoke
alarms to private rental properties.
2.23 QFRA investigate the feasibility of
introducing a process to ensure all reports
for a fire incident (ie. First Attending Officer
Report, AIRS Report, Fire Investigation
Report) are easily cross referenced with
2.24 The Chief Commissioner, QFRA, liaise with
State Coroner’s Office and the State
Pathologist to ensure that information
relating to death by smoke inhalation, such
as the levels of carboxyhemoglobin
(COBH) and alcohol in the victims blood
be determined and recorded in a
consistent fashion across Queensland.
2.25 QFRA liaise with all key stakeholders (Fire
Safety, FIU, Arson Squad, Police Scientific
Services, Department of Minerals and
Energy, Fire Investigation Association) in
investigating causes of fire and sources of
ignition to make best use of available
resources and information.
2.26 The work underway to integrate hazard
information, fire incident data, socioeconomic data and risk profiles of various
community groups continue and be used
to enhance the development of regional,
area and local risk management plans.
2.27 An on-scene aide-memoir for fire fighters
be developed and introduced to assist them
with the completion of an incident
reporting form, and that the QFRA liaise
with the Queensland Police to evaluate the
effectiveness of current technologies to
assist with on-scene incident reporting.
2.28 A review of systems which assist in the
movement of incident information from
station to head office and back be initiated
to enhance the flow of information.
Research recommendations
During the course of this project, a number of
findings arose from the analysis that could not
satisfactorily be addressed by direct
recommendations.
These findings required additional research that
was either sufficiently extensive over time or
intensive in terms of detailed or specialist analysis
to generate “stand alone” research projects.
The recommendations for further research are
listed below. The recommendations are all framed
in terms of further research to be conducted by
the QFRA alone or in conjunction with the
Australian Fire Authorities Council. However, it may
be appropriate that the research recommendations
be reviewed in total and that individual projects
be carried out by each of the State and Territory
Fire Services as part of the national research
strategy.
It is recommended that the QFRA:
R1
research causes of death and ignition
during recognised peak fire fatality periods
in comparison to causes over the full year
(and investigate any potential over
reporting of specific causes).
R2
establish a multidisciplinary team to
develop and implement a five-year
community fire safety and prevention
strategy, including a year-by-year focus on
specific target groups and incorporating an
annual evaluation of effectiveness.
R3
monitor actual penetration of smoke
alarms into the community. The correlation
between the number of people saying
they have smoke alarms in surveys and
those who have operating smoke alarms
should be examined.
R4
work with Australasian Fire Authorities
Council to support research into the
development and design of smoke alarms
with pitch, volume and pulse capable of
alerting inebriated persons to the presence
of a fire.
2.29 The “Other” or “Unreported” categories be
eliminated from the AIRS form.
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
AIRS and are updated as new information
becomes available as the current AIRS
system does not allow for further data to
be added into the report after further
investigation by the Fire Investigation Unit.
15
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
16
R5
conduct a detailed analysis into the
reporting of fire causes since 1995. This
research is to determine if fire
investigations courses have had a positive
effect on the reporting and investigation
of fire causes.
R6
investigate in conjunction with the
Queensland Coroner and State Pathologist
the apparent anomaly between cause of
death in Queensland and cause of death
in all other States and Territories.
R7
undertake a six to 12-month prospective
survey of structural fires in Queensland to
examine fatalities, serious injuries, causes
and successful escapes, to establish a
baseline comparison between fatal fires
and all other structural fires.
The ‘Fire Fatalities: Who’s at Risk?’ project is a
research initiative of the Department of
Emergency Services’ Strategic Management and
Policy Unit in cooperation with the Queensland
Fire and Rescue Authority (QFRA). The ‘Fire
Fatalities: Who’s at Risk?’ project represents a
critical step in the development of enhanced
strategies to reduce the number of fire fatalities
in Australia and, hence, the overall cost to the
community of fires. To illustrate the need for such
strategies, it is instructive to consider some of
the costs of structural fires and fatalities over the
period from 1 July 1994 to 30 June 1996.
In Australia during the period 1 July 1994 to 30 June
1996 and based on the sum of the costs of deaths,
domestic property damage and provision of fire
services, the total cost of structural fires exceeded
$2.5 billion. During this period, 228 people died
in structural fires (as defined in Section 1.2).
Almost all of these fatalities occurred in residential
dwellings. In current terms, these deaths
represent a social cost of $574,560,000 (based on
an estimated cost per fatality of $2,520,000 - NZ
Land Transport, J.C. Guria, 1993). The estimated
cost of damage to domestic properties and
contents due to structural fires over two years is
$400,000,000 (based on estimates from Insurance
Statistics Australia). The cost of fire services
provided by the fire authorities listed in Section
1.2 for the two year period is approximately
$1,532,600,000. Finally, there are the additional
uncounted costs due to injuries, lost work hours,
temporary accommodation for victims and
families and social dislocation. There is a clear
need to increase the emphasis on preventing
loss of life due to fire and preventing the
incidence of serious fires.
1.1 Background
Over the past five years, the QFRA (formerly the
Queensland Fire Service) has placed increasing
emphasis on preventive strategies as a means
of further reducing the loss of life, level of injury
and loss of property due to fires. The current
mission statement of the QFRA as detailed in the
QFRA 1997-2000 Strategic Plan is:
“To achieve zero preventable fire deaths, injuries,
property and environmental damage through the
development of an organisational culture which
encourages our staff and volunteers to work in
partnership with their communities to improve
public safety.”
Preventable fire deaths are defined as property
fires where fatalities have occurred, but excludes
murder, suicide and those deaths due to natural
causes where a fire has subsequently broken out.
It reflects the number of fatal fires where it is
believed fire safety practices and education could
have positively influenced the outcome.
Recent community surveys (1997 Roy Morgan and
1995 Australian Bureau of Statistics) in
Queensland have indicated that a considerable
majority of householders believe that early
warning of smoke and fire is the most critical
factor affecting their safety in the event of a fire.
Additionally, over 90 per cent of respondents in
the 1997 survey indicated that they considered it
important or very important that the QFRA
continue the following services:
•
•
•
free on-site provision of advice about
home fire safety
quick response to fire, motor vehicle or
other emergency
fire safety education to children in
kindergarten, pre-school and primary
school.
The community is supportive of the QFRA
emphasis on fire prevention service delivery
strategies, while still expecting that response
capabilities are maintained.
While it has been suggested that people who have
died in fires were often dead before the alarm was
raised, there has been a lack of research to
substantiate this claim. The need to examine any
common factors contributing to fire fatalities and
to assess any possible relationship between the
estimated time of death of fire victims and the time
fire service response units are notified of a fire
(alarm time), were the reasons for initiating this
research project. This project has also sought to
address a lack of quantitative research in Australia
on these issues and was conducted with the co-
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
1. INTRODUCTION AND
PROJECT OVERVIEW
17
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
18
operation of the Australasian Fire Authorities
Council (AFAC) and other Australian State and
Territory Fire Services (listed in Section 1.2). The
results of this project will provide a basis for
reviewing and enhancing current Fire Service
delivery strategies.
1.1.1 Literature review
than 30 minutes to be detected are 15 times more
likely to result in a fire death than a fire which is
detected within five minutes” (Audit Commission;
1995, p25). This finding highlights the need for
early detection of a fire in order to reduce
preventable fire deaths. It is important to note,
however, that the methodology used in
determining the time of ignition of the fire is
based on post-incident estimation.
A literature review was undertaken to determine if
similar studies existed, either in Australia or
overseas, regarding the possible relationship
between the time taken to discover a fire and the
outcome in terms of fire deaths. Although no
research documents were found which examined
exactly the same issues, several documents were
influential as a basis for the time of death analysis
used in this report. Three reports of particular
influence in undertaking this project are:
Hall & Harwood (1995, p40) also state that over
three-quarters of accidental fire deaths in structures
are due to smoke inhalation (poisoning by carbon
monoxide and other toxic products of structural
fires). This finding is matched by the results found
in the present study for Australia and most of the
States and Territories, although Queensland
showed only half of the deaths as due to smoke
inhalation. The discrepancy for Queensland is
discussed in Section 2.7.
•
Several other research papers were reviewed which
identified groups in the community that were most
at risk from fire. The report Fire Death Analysis
on the Basis of Administrative Autopsy and Fire
Investigation (T Takahashi, Tokyo Fire Department,
1992) highlighted factors such as the building’s
environment, demographic characteristics of fire
death victims and human behaviour in fires. The
findings relating to demographic characteristics of
the fire death victims showed that elderly people
were most at risk from fire deaths and that the
“death rate of people who are 70 years old or
more grows bigger rapidly as they grow older”
(Takahashi, 1992, p182). This finding is supported
in the Australian data where people aged 65 years
and older have been shown to be a high risk
group from fire deaths in almost all Australian
states. Takahashi also stated that “success in
evacuations depends highly on people’s alcohol
intoxication level and whether or not they were
awake or not” (Takahashi: 1992, p.182). Although
the ‘Fire Fatalities: Who’s at Risk?’ project did
not look into the activities of the victims prior to
the fire, the data gathered showed that, in a
significant number of cases, victims were affected
by alcohol. Additionally, the Australian data
shows a predominant occurrence of fatal fires late
at night or in the early hours of the morning when
people are generally asleep.
•
•
In the Line of Fire (Audit Commission, UK,
1995)
Smoke or Burns - Which is Deadlier ? (JR
Hall & B Harwood, NFPA Journal, USA,
January 1995)
New Zealand Fire Risk Data (P Narayanan,
NZ, 1995).
The spread of fire beyond the room of origin is
shown by these reports to be a key element when
projecting the possible outcomes of a fire in terms
of death or injury. It has been shown that most
deaths (between 77 and 100 per cent, depending
on the type of occupancy (Narayanan, 1995, p32))
occur when fires extend beyond the room of
origin. Fires typically spread beyond the room of
origin after flashover occurs. The visible level of
involvement on arrival of the first responding
brigade is an approximate indicator of how far a
fire has spread. While data on the spread of fire
beyond room of origin is generally available from
the AIRS databases, our research interest is in
identifying the state of the fire at the time the
responding brigade arrives. Therefore, we have
investigated the level of involvement or
description of the fire, to make estimates as to
the likelihood of the fire victim being either alive
or dead prior to the Fire Service alarm time.
This concept is further reinforced in the report In
the Line of Fire where research has indicated that
the time interval between detection and
notification of a fire can have a dramatic effect
on the eventual outcome of the fire in terms of
fire deaths: “Fires in dwellings which take more
Fatal Fires in New Zealand (D Cropp, New Zealand
Fire Service, 1991) examined New Zealand fire
data between 1 January 1986 to 31 December
1990 in order to determine who, where and why
people were dying in fires. This report found that
A similar research project was also conducted by
Conley and Fahy (1994) in the United States. This
report detailed the demographic characteristics of
fire death victims and provided insight into the
causes and behaviours that contributed to the fatal
fires. The report (1994, p99-100) highlighted the
fact that very young children and elderly people
were most at risk of dying in fires. It was also found
that a link exists between poverty and high fire
death rates. This finding was also reflected in
the Australian demographic data gathered, which
showed that a large number of fire death victims
were in lower socio-economic groups.
A report by Reynolds (Fire Research News, 1996,
p5-7) looks into the causes of 418 deaths that
occurred in Britain between July 1994 and June
1995. Smoking materials, accidents involving
heaters and electrical faults were identified as
some of the major causes of fatal fires, a finding
that has been reflected in the ‘Fire Fatalities:
Who’s at Risk?’ study.
In Australia, the CSIRO has produced reports that
combine fire incident data from Australian States
and Territories. The New South Wales Fire Brigades
also produce statistical research papers that detail
fire incident data specific to New South Wales.
However, due to the limitations of the type of
data being collected from Australian fire services,
it was not possible to determine demographic
characteristics of the fire death victims from either
of these two Australian sources.
1.2 Scope
The following statistical populations have been
used in this study:
•
•
•
research population - all victims of fatal
structural fires in Australia
research sample - all victims of fatal structural
fires in Australia between 1 July 1991 and 30
June 1996
research sub-samples - all victims of fatal
structural fires in each of the Australian
States and Territories.
This research project derived fire fatality data
relating to all structural fires including mobile
properties such as mobile homes, caravans,
campervans and transportable buildings that have
occurred in both urban and rural areas of Australia
between 1 July 1991 and 30 June 1996. Fires
occurring in selected water transport vessels, as
identified in AIRS Manual, Block J1 Division 4 Codes
41 and 42, were also examined.
In terms of fire categories, all fatal structural fires
either deliberate, accidental/preventable or
undetermined, were examined and incorporated
in the analysis. However, when examining the
cause of death in fatal fires, deaths not directly
due to the fire such as heart attacks, self inflicted
wounds or suicide were not incorporated directly
in the analysis.
Fire services participating in this research project
were:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Queensland Fire and Rescue Authority
New South Wales Fire Brigades
Australian Capital Territory Fire Brigade
Melbourne Metropolitan Fire Brigade
Victorian Country Fire Authority
Tasmanian Fire Service
South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service
Western Australian Fire and Rescue Service
Northern Territory Fire Service.
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
men were most vulnerable to dying in fires, a
finding that has been confirmed in the present
study. Cropp (1991, p9) also identified that elderly
people and children aged between zero and five
years were most at risk of fire deaths. This finding
has also been confirmed in the present Australian
research. A finding of the New Zealand report
that was of particular interest to this study was
that a large number of fatal fires occurred in
private rental properties. In most of the Australian
States, the majority of fatal fires occurred in rental
properties.
19
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
20
1.3 Project aim
The project aim is to examine any common
contributing factors to fire fatalities and to assess
any possible relationship between the estimated
time of death of fire victims and the time at which
the Fire Service was notified. Results of the data
analysis will be used to make recommendations
with the aim of reducing the incidence of deaths
in structural fires.
1.3.1 Rationale
Fire Services across Australia are confronted with
the challenge of reducing the number of fire
deaths, injuries, property loss and environmental
damage due to fire within an environment of
decreasing public expenditure and a whole-ofGovernment drive for increased productivity.
Fire Services, both nationally and internationally,
are currently striving to implement strategies
which will lead to a reduction in the number of
preventable deaths due to fire. Therefore the
benefits of an increased focus on prevention
activities is being promoted to the community,
firefighters and Government alike.
1.3.2 Project objectives
As stated in the ‘Fire Fatalities: Who’s at Risk?’
project proposal of 4 November 1996, the project
objectives are:
•
to identify any relationship between the
projected ignition time, the time of
notification of the fire and the time of death
of fire fatality victims
•
to identify some demographic (and socioeconomic) characteristics of fire death
victims
•
to identify as a recommendation, additional
categories of fire incident information
required for future collection by Australian
Fire Services
•
to review Queensland’s draft Fire Service
Delivery Policy, based on the outcomes of
the research, to achieve the above
objectives
•
to analyse data collected from the research
and to make recommendations to enable
Fire Services to evaluate current fire
education programs and to improve the
development and delivery of future
community fire education programs.
1.4 Project methodology
1.4.1 Primary research
The primary research was conducted in the
following stages:
(i)
Stage One: Data collection - Queensland
Initially, fire incident details were obtained from
the Australian Incident Reporting System (AIRS)
for fatal fires that occurred between 1 July 1991
and 30 June 1996.
Fire date and location were extracted from the
AIRS data. This information was then used at the
Coroner’s Office to locate courthouses that would
have the relevant files relating to the fire fatalities.
In Queensland, the Coroner’s Office uses a
manual filing system based on the victim’s
surname. It was, therefore, necessary to enlist
help from the Fire Investigation Unit, Fire Stations,
the Registrar of Births Deaths and Marriages, the
Queensland Police Service and local Queensland
courthouses to identify the surnames of fire fatality
victims based on the date and location of the fire.
The names of the fire fatality victims were released
to the research team on the basis that the names
would remain confidential and were used only for
identification purposes. Post-mortem files were
obtained from the Brisbane Coroner’s office and
courthouses throughout Queensland to extract
relevant fire mortality data relating to the
demographic characteristics of the fire death
victims. This additional information was then
combined with the AIRS data to enable a more
comprehensive understanding of some of the
common demographic and socio-economic
characteristics and factors contributing to the
deaths of fire victims. The process developed
for Queensland was then applied to data
collection from all other States and Territories.
(ii)
Stage Two: Data collection - Other
Australian States and Territories
Although different administrative systems operate
in the various States and Territories, it was possible
to gather data in a relatively consistent manner. A
standardised letter detailing the process and a
confidential questionnaire based on the model
used for Queensland were sent to all participating
Fire Services throughout Australia. The importance
of maintaining confidentiality was emphasised
with the other Australian Fire Services throughout
the research process.
(iii)
Stage Three: Data analysis
Analysis has been performed on the data to
identify and assess any possible relationships
between the recorded time of death and the
following variables:
•
•
•
•
•
projected ignition time
the time of notification of the fire (alarm
time)
the time of day and month in which the
fire occurred
cause of the fire and cause of death
presence/absence of smoke alarms.
Data analysis was initially performed on a State
by State basis in order to assess the characteristics
of fatal fire incidents in each State and Territory.
The data from all the States and Territories was
then combined and analysed collectively in order
to achieve the national perspective on fire
fatalities.
In order to examine the belief that fire death
victims are dying before brigades are notified and
that increased fire prevention activities are
necessary to save lives, a comparison was made
between the recorded time of death of the
victims and the fire service alarm time for each
fire fatality. Figure 1.1 shows the time continuum
of events in a fatal fire. The analysis seeks to
identify in which segment of the continuum most
deaths occur.
The cases were then divided into three groups:
•
cases where the time of death was recorded
as occurring either prior to or coinciding
with the call out time of the fire brigade
•
cases where the time of death for the
victims was listed as having occurred after
call out time
•
cases where either time of death or alarm
time were unknown and in which other
related data was generally poorly recorded.
Further analysis was performed on the fire fatalities
that occurred after the call out time of the fire
brigade. The level of involvement of the fire at
the time of arrival of the fire brigade was analysed
as this is an indicator of how far the fire has spread
throughout a structure and, as previously stated,
(Hall & Harwood, 1995, p42-43) (Narayanan, 1995,
p32) the spread of the fire is related to the likely
incidence of death in a fire.
The weight of evidence gathered in this analysis
of incidents, witness statements and related
literature would then suggest that, when a fire
has spread significantly beyond the room of origin
by the time the fire brigade has arrived (that is, a
level of involvement of 60 per cent or more of
the structure), then people within the structure
may have already perished. Information on the
level of involvement was obtained either from
AIRS (based on first officer reports) or witness
statements recorded in police reports.
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
Fire fatality research was conducted in Victoria,
New South Wales, South Australia, Western
Australia, Tasmania, Northern Territory and the
Australian Capital Territory with the invaluable
cooperation of Fire Services in all those States
and Territories. Data was collected from fire
incident reports, fire investigation unit reports and
coroner’s files in each State and Territory.
Figure 1.1 - Fire fatality continuum
Ignition
Discovery
Alarm
Brigade arrival
Fire out
21
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
22
The level of involvement recorded varied
according to the source, but the following
statements have been used in each State as the
measure:
•
•
percentage involvement as estimated by
the first arriving fire service unit and
recorded in AIRS
‘Fully involved’, ‘well alight’, ‘heavy smoke’
and others derived from witness
statements usually recorded in Coroner’s
reports.
This approach is further reinforced (Audit
Commission, 1995, p.25) by research that
indicates that the time interval between detection
and notification of a fire can have a dramatic effect
on the eventual outcome of the fire in terms on
fire deaths. That finding highlights the need for
early detection of a fire in order to reduce
preventable fire deaths. It is important to note,
however, that the methodology used in
determining the time of ignition of the fire, in
discussion with G Goddard of the UK Home
Office, was based on post-incident estimation.
Time of ignition was determined in that report
by questionnaires sent to Fire Brigades after
incidents and fire officers were required to make
an estimate of the time from ignition to discovery
and discovery to notification. The estimates were
based on the following time intervals immediately, under five minutes, five minutes to
30 minutes, 30 minutes to two hours, over two
hours and unknown.
Further analysis was conducted to determine
demographic characteristics of fire fatality victims.
Simple cross tabulations were performed on the
demographic data using variables such as time
of incident, risk category (Queensland only),
occupancy type, and effectiveness of fire
prevention systems.
AIRS data was analysed using frequency counts
on variables such as month of fire, alarm time,
category of fire, fire cause, complex type, property
ownership and detector performance. Frequency
counts were also performed on a number of
variables relating to the victims including sex, age,
marital status, cause of death, birthplace,
ethnicity, occupation and labour force status. The
age of fire death victims was further grouped,
categorised and compared to the estimated
resident State population for each age bracket.
This process was then repeated for male and
female victims. This enabled more vulnerable
groups in the community to be defined with
further analysis being performed on
demographic and AIRS data relevant to each
group.
(iv)
Stage Four: Presentation of report
The draft report detailing the findings and
recommendations of the ‘Fire Fatalities: Who’s
at Risk?’ project was presented to the Project
Reference Group which comprises: QFRA Chief
Commissioner Wayne Hartley; Gary Tower,
Director, Corporate Strategy, New South Wales
Fire Brigades and AFAC representative; Dr Iraphne
Childs, Queensland University of Technology
(QUT); Jeanette Burrows, Executive Director,
Strategy Planning and Regional Services,
Queensland Department of Emergency Services;
Fiona McKersie, Director, Policy Unit, Queensland
Department of Emergency Services; and Nick
Nicolopoulos, Manager, Statistics Unit, New South
Wales Fire Brigades. Professional support and
constructive comments were provided at various
stages throughout the research project by the
project support team whose membership is
detailed in Appendix 1 together with the details
of project management. Following the approval
of the final draft report by the Project Reference
Group, the report was externally reviewed and
made available to Australasian Fire Authorities
Council member organisations as a draft report
for comments. Once the five week consultation
period concluded, the comments were reviewed
and where appropriate, incorporated into the ‘Fire
Fatalities: Who’s at Risk?’ research report.
1.5 Project limitations
A number of limitations have been identified in
association with this project. Some of these
limitations were recognised in the original design
of the project while others became apparent as
the project progressed. Three of the most
important limitations recognised during the design
phase of the project were:
•
the short time frame (1991-1996) being
examined and its effects on the reliability
of trends observed over time (this has also
been limited by the availability of reliable
data)
•
•
the effect of multiple fatalities in distorting
annual figures (particularly in relation to
some State and Territory data)
compatibility of data between Australian
States and Territories
the lack of comparable studies in Australia.
1.5.1 Other limitations in practice
Several limitations to the project became apparent
once research was underway.
(i)
Time of death
There were significant limitations in identifying
with any degree of certainty the time of death of
a fire victim. Actual times of death for fire victims
are only rarely accurately determined and, in
these cases, the determination is based on
witness statements and other circumstantial
evidence. Discussions with the Director of
Forensic Pathology, John Tonge Centre,
Queensland, indicated that the effects of fire
on the body make it almost impossible to
determine medically an accurate time of death.
Post mortem reports, therefore, record a time of
death which is usually the time a body is found
or the time that the body is pronounced dead by
a doctor.
As outlined in Section 1.4.1 ‘Data Analysis’, this
limitation resulted in the time of death being
examined relative to the Fire Service alarm time
based on the level of involvement of the fire when
the Fire Service arrived at the incident. The latter
data enabled researchers to estimate the probable
state of the victim when the Fire Service was
notified.
As a result of discussions with the Department
of Emergency Services, Scientific Services
Laboratory conducted a study of a fire in a
residential dwelling in which three people lost
their lives.
Through applying fire engineering modelling
techniques to predict the conditions which
existed in the house from the time of fire ignition
until the time of fire brigade entry and the
discovery of the occupants, the body of evidence
indicates that the occupants of the house were
dead before the fire brigade arrived (see
Appendix 4).
(ii)
Data availability and completeness of
records.
The second significant limitation identified during
the project was the availability of data and
incompleteness of data. The data provided by all
services included significant gaps over the time
frame examined due to industrial action in some
instances or incomplete categories of data
collected or partially collected, such as fire cause
or smoke alarm presence/absence.
The problems encountered in data collection
include the need for firefighters to be aware of
the importance of providing accurate data to
inform service planning. In particular, there is a
need for ongoing feedback on performance in
relation to State, Territory and national data
collection and collation processes.
(iii)
Consistency of data
This project has relied on data from a number of
sources as identified in Section 1.4. The
consistency of data from different data sources
such as AIRS, Coroners’ Reports and Fire
Investigation Reports varied within each State and
Territory. For example, the number of people
dying in structural fires during a calendar year
varied between information sources within a
single State. There is, therefore, a need for
further investigation into the reasons for such
discrepancies. Detailed investigation of data
outside Queensland has been difficult because
of such discrepancies. It was only possible to make
a detailed examination of all information sources
in Queensland, thereby achieving an effective
level of cross referencing between sources. In
Queensland, a fatality has only been included in
the final total if the veracity of the data could be
confirmed by two independent sources.
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
•
23
2.1 Overview
There were 101 fire fatalities resulting from 79
structural fires in Queensland between 1 July 1991
and 30 June 1996. Over this five year period, the
number of fire deaths in Queensland has
increased. Table 2.1 illustrates the five-year trend
in structural fire fatalities in Queensland and
compares them to national figures in Figure 2.1.
It should be noted that, as a result of detailed
investigations carried out during this project,
discrepancies were identified between the
numbers of fatalities recorded on AIRS (and
reported in previous annual reports) and the
figure found by cross checking with other
independent sources including the Government
Statistician’s Of fice and the Queensland
Coroner’s office records.
Figure 2.1 shows that the number of fire deaths
in Queensland per 100,000 people has risen over
the past five years and, in 1995/96, is similar in
magnitude to the national fire death rate. Several
factors may have contributed to this growth. All
fire fatality cases were cross referenced by
matching Fire Service records with coroner’s files.
A number of deaths that occurred in 1991 and
1992 which could only be confirmed by one
source were not included in final figures. Another
factor which may have contributed to the overall
increase in fire fatalities in 1993/94, 1994/95 and
1995/96 was that there were a number of fires
that caused multiple deaths during these periods.
Table 2.1 - Queensland fire deaths
Financial
Year
1991/92
1992/93
1993/94
1994/95
1995/96
Number of
victims
13
10
22
33
23
Deaths per
100,000
0.43
0.32
0.69
1.00
0.68
Figure 2.1 - Queensland fire deaths (compared to national trend)
1.1
1
Queensland
Australia
1
0.9
Deaths per 100,000
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
2. QUEENSLAND
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.69
0.55
0.57
0.66
0.63
0.68
0.6
0.43
0.4
0.3
24
0.32
1991/92
1992/93
1993/94
Financial years
1994/95
1995/96
Table 2.2 - Queensland Fires that caused multiple fire deaths 1/7/91 - 30/6/96
Financial
year
Total no.
of fires
Total no.
of victims
1991/92
1992/93
1993/94
1994/95
1995/96
13
8
16
26
16
13
10
22
33
23
No. of fires where multiple
deaths occurred
The rise in multiple fire death incidents highlights
the need for the community to be made aware
of the need for early detection of smoke and
well-rehearsed evacuation plans for the whole
household.
An analysis of the multiple fire deaths also shows
that 33 per cent of the incidents with multiple
fire deaths involved alcohol consumption by
victims. The behaviour of victims while under
the influence of alcohol could potentially
contribute to the cause of the fire and may also
affect victims’ ability to notice, extinguish or
escape the fire once started. An important point
to note is that alcohol is only tested for in victims
who have died in a fire. There is no testing of
the levels of alcohol present in the bloodstreams
of others who have escaped the fire. The
relationship between alcohol consumption and
fire fatalities is analysed in Section 2.5 ‘At Risk
Groups’.
FINDINGS
•
Previously reported statistics have not
been completely reliable.
•
Multiple fatality fires are a clear
indicator of the need for family and
group households to install smoke
alarms for early warning and to prepare
fire exit plans.
•
Alcohol is a major contributing factor
to fire fatalities (and is discussed in
detail later in this chapter).
No. of victims in fires where
multiple deaths occurred
0
1
4
6
4
0
3
10
13
11
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that:
2.1
Ongoing performance information and
key indicator trends, including the
State and regional fire death rate per
100,000 people, be provided on a
regular basis by the Strategic Planning
and Development Unit, QFRA, to all
regions in Queensland. Ongoing
performance information comparisons should be made at both a State
level and a national level.
2.2 Time of fatal fires
2.2.1 Time of death analysis
Due to inconsistencies in fire death records in
Queensland, 55 (54 per cent) of the cases were
not able to be analysed for this category of
information because the records failed to contain
either a time of death for the victim and/or the
alarm time for the Fire Service. In addition, other
data related to these incidents (typically during
the early years of the research period) is often
incomplete or inconsistent. Therefore, analysis
of the time of death of the fire victims relative to
the Fire Service alarm time is based on the
remaining 46 (46 per cent) fire fatalities for whom
times of death and alarm times are reported.
As described in Sections 1.1.1 and 1.4.1 (iii), a
major finding in the course of this project has
been that the coroner’s reports and associated
post mortem reports did not, in many cases,
record an accurate time of death for fire death
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
Table 2.2 shows the number of structural fires that caused multiple deaths in Queensland between 1 July
1991 and 30 June 1996.
25
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
victims. The recorded time of death satisfies legal
requirements, but for the purposes of this
project, was not a reliable indicator of the actual
time of death of the fire death victims. Therefore,
in order to project the probable state of the victim
at Fire Service alarm time, estimates as given by
either the first officer attending the scene or ‘on
scene’ witness accounts were used to determine
the level of involvement of the fire at the time of
arrival of the fire brigade. As mentioned in
Section 1.1.1, the level of fire involvement of the
structure is a key element when projecting the
possible outcomes of a fire in terms of death or
injury.
In order to enhance public safety an improvement
is needed in the quality of information collected
about the time of death of fire victims. This may
be achieved by establishing a mechanism for
greater liaison and cooperation between the
Coroner, State Pathologist, QFRA and the
Queensland Police Service (QPS) as agencies
responsible for establishing the time of death of
fire victims.
Table 2.3 - Time of death of victims relative
to alarm time - Queensland
Recorded time of death
Before or coinciding with alarm time
After alarm time
Unknown
TOTAL
18
28
55
101
Of the 46 fire fatalities who had a time of death
and alarm time recorded, 18 occurred either
before or coinciding with alarm time. Of the
remaining 28 victims who had their time of death
listed as after alarm time, 22 had the recorded
level of involvement of the fire as between 60 per
cent or greater or the structure was described by
witnesses at the scene as being well alight or
fully involved at the time of arrival of the Fire
State of the fire on arrival of the
Fire Service (for cases where the
time of death was recorded as
after alarm time).*
Fully involved
Well alight
Fire involved 60% or more
Unknown
TOTAL
No. of cases
9
8
5
6
28
*Fire scene descriptions as given by witnesses and fire personnel
at the time of the fire.
Service. Table 2.4 sets out the recorded level of
involvement of the structural fires on arrival of
the Fire Service.
The recorded level of fire involvement in these 22
cases is regarded as sufficient to lead to the death
of persons within the structure. As shown in
Figure 2.2, when this is examined together with
the number of people recorded as deceased prior
to or coinciding with the Fire Service alarm time,
it indicates that at least 40 fire victims in
Queensland (87 per cent of the victims for whom
a time of death was recorded) were deceased
prior to or coinciding with the alarm time of the
Fire Service. The remaining six cases for whom
times of death were recorded did not contain
information on the level of fire involvement at
the time of arrival of the Fire Service.
This outcome implies that the deaths of these
people did not depend on the time taken by
the fire brigade to respond to each incident.
Generally, the fatal fires were too far advanced
at the time the alarm was raised for the occupants
to have survived. The survival of the occupants
would have been facilitated by early detection of
smoke and easy escape.
Figure 2.2 - Fire Fatality Continuum
Ignition
Unknown
26
Total no. of victims
Table 2.4 - State of fire on arrival of
fire service - Queensland
55 victims - time of death or
alarm time not recorded
Discovery
Alarm
18 recorded deaths
40 estimated deaths
after analysis
Brigade arrival
28 recorded deaths
6 estimated deaths after analysis
Fire out
•
The time of death of fire victims is not
always recorded.
•
The time of death of fire victims, as
recorded by the Coroner’s Office, is
often not the actual time of death.
•
•
Where information is available on time
of death, alarm time and the level of
involvement of the fire, it can be shown
that the majority of fire fatality victims
are dying prior to or coinciding with
the Fire Service alarm time.
Early detection of the presence of
smoke is critical to achieving a
reduction in preventable fire deaths.
RECOMMENDATIONS
It is recommended that:
2.2
2.3
QFRA review current service delivery
strategies for fire safety and
prevention, reducing the risk and
impact of fire and other emergencies
with a view to developing more
effective service delivery strategies.
QFRA liaise with the Department of
Public Works and Housing on options
for increasing legislative requirements
for smoke alarm installation beyond
new homes, such as mandating the
installation of smoke alarms in
significant new building extensions
and rental properties.
2.4
QFRA liaise with the State Coroners
Office and other relevant stakeholders
to discuss strategies to minimise
confusion between recorded time of
death and the actual time of death for
fatal fire victims.
2.5
QFRA research other successful
community fire safety programs to
enhance current community fire safety
programs.
2.3 Month of the year
On examination of the fire research data, it was
revealed that 65 (64 per cent) of the fire deaths
occurred in the second half of the year (See
Figure 2.3).
In the colder months of June, July, August and
September, 52 (51 per cent) of the fire deaths
occurred. Electrical accidents, including electrical
faults and the overloading of power outlets, were
identified as the main cause of winter fires in
Queensland.
December recorded the highest number of fire
deaths (17 per cent) for a single month
throughout the period of the study. No major
common cause was identified for the fires that
occurred in December. However, it was identified
that six of the December victims had alcohol in
their bloodstream at the time of their deaths. It
is also significant that the pre-Christmas period
exhibits increased numbers of all forms of
accidental death.
FINDING
•
The majority of fire deaths occurred
during two distinct periods - the
cooler months and pre-Christmas.
Social behaviour patterns (eg. preChristmas) are equally as important
as climatic patterns.
RECOMMENDATIONS
It is recommended that:
2.6
QFRA evaluate the timing of current fire
safety campaigns in conjunction with
other stakeholders such as the
Department of Mines & Energy, Office
of Consumer Affairs and the Electrical
Repairers Association, to ensure that
community safety and awareness
campaigns are appropriately timed to
coincide with the two observed danger
periods of winter and pre-Christmas.
2.7
QFRA review the allocation of
resources to all fire safety and
prevention initiatives prior to identified
danger periods to improve general
awareness of fire safety.
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
FINDINGS
27
20
Number of victims
15
10
10
6
Jan
6
3
3
Feb
Mar
Apr
5
May
That the performance information
provided by the Strategy, Planning
and Development Unit to stations
includes the number of structure fires
per month and the number of fire
fatalities per month on an appropriate
geographical basis to assist service
delivery planning.
4
Jun
Jul
Months
Aug
In Queensland, an alarm time was not listed in
the available data for 44 of the fatalities.
Discrepancies between AIRS and independent
data sources used, a lack of reporting due to Fire
Service industrial action and inconsistent
reporting of AIRS data over the research period
may have contributed to the number of alarm
times not reported. In the remaining 57 cases,
13 of the deaths occurred between 8:00am and
6:00pm, six deaths occurred between 6:00pm
and midnight and 38 deaths occurred between
midnight and 8:00am.
•
Fatal fires tend to occur when most
people are at home, asleep and not
alert to potential or actual danger.
Oct
Nov
Dec
There are certain periods of the day
when few fatal fires occur.
•
Effective fire safety practices in the
home, such as the proper installation
of smoke alarms and a well-prepared
evacuation plan, would assist in
reducing the vulnerability of
householders.
Figure 2.4 - Deaths time of day
40
38
35
30
25
20
15
13
10
The most dangerous time of day is when all the
occupants are at home, asleep and unlikely to
notice the early stages of a fire. Additionally, the
figures indicate that there may be opportunities
to make use of periods of lower fire response
activity to engage in preventive activities. Figure
2.4 shows the distribution of recorded alarm times
for fire fatalities.
Available data indicates that:
Sep
5
•
2.4 Time of day
FINDINGS
28
15
14
13
5
0
2.8
17
Number of victims
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
Figure 2.3 - Deaths per month (period 1991/92 to 1995/96)
6
5
0 00:00 to 08:00
08:00 to 18:00
Time of day
18:00 to 00:00
RECOMMENDATIONS
It is recommended that:
2.9
QFRA investigate the feasibility of
initiating community fire safety
programs targeted at families,
conducted during the evenings and
using station training areas for such
activities.
2.11 In particular, due emphasis should
be placed on alerting the community
to the dangers of fires occurring while
they are asleep.
2.5 Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of
the victims
Gender and age of the victims
Two age groups were clearly over-represented
as fire death victims:
•
victims aged 65 years and over
represented 26 (26 per cent) of all victims,
but only 11 per cent of the total population
•
victims in the age group zero to four years
represented 16 (16 per cent) of the victims,
but only seven per cent of the total
population.
Therefore, it can be seen that 42 per cent of fire
victims belonged to the standard dependent
categories of the population (that is, typically not
living independently). Table 2.5 gives the
complete age breakdown of victims.
The majority of victims in Queensland were male
69 (68 per cent). Males were the majority of
victims in both age groups identified above.
Table 2.5 shows the percentage breakdown by age
group for fire victims in Queensland.
Birthplace and ethnicity of the victims
In 22 (22 per cent) of the cases, no information
could be determined about the birthplace or
ethnicity of the fire victims. As stated in Section
10.3, information on ethnicity was poorly collected
and recorded by all the Queensland agencies
involved in recording fire fatalities. Post mortems
and coroner’s records do not accurately classify
the ethnicity of the fire victims.
Of the remaining 79 cases, it was determined
that Australia was the birthplace for 65 (64 per
cent) victims. The remaining victims came from
New Zealand (three victims), Greece, Austria,
Poland, Vietnam, the United Kingdom (six victims)
Table 2.5 - Age of fire death victims (male and female) - Queensland
Age groupings
(Years)
Total no.
of victims
Percentage of
total (101)
Age group as a % of
Queensland population*
0-4
5-9
10 - 14
15 - 19
20 - 24
25 - 29
30 - 34
35 - 39
40 - 44
45 - 49
50 - 54
55 - 59
60 - 64
65 - 69
70 - 74
75 - 79
80 - 84
85+
16
4
7
7
7
6
2
5
11
4
5
1
0
4
5
8
3
6
16%
4%
7%
7%
7%
6%
2%
5%
11%
4%
5%
1%
0%
4%
5%
8%
3%
6%
7%
7%
7%
7%
8%
8%
8%
8%
7%
7%
5%
4%
4%
4%
3%
2%
1%
1%
*Source: Average of ABS Estimated Resident Population June Quarter 1991 to 1996. The percentage totals may not add up to 100% due to
the rounding of individual age brackets.
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
2.10 QFRA should continue the current
emphasis on smoke alarms in
community fire safety programs.
29
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
30
and the Middle East/North Africa. Three of the
Queensland fire victims were positively identified
as being from an Aboriginal or Torres Strait
Islander heritage.
Occupations of the victims
Occupational characteristics of the fire death
victims were examined because occupation is one
indicator of socio-economic status and it was
necessary to ascertain if a relationship existed
between socio-economic status and risk of fire
death in Queensland. Any such relationship may
be of use in developing targeted fire safety and
prevention campaigns.
Children and students made up 28 (28 per cent)
of the Queensland fire death victims. Of those
73 fire death victims who were not reported to
be children and students, it was not possible to
determine the occupations for 24 of the victims.
The following analysis is based on the remaining
49 victims whose occupation was identified. In
Queensland, 35 (71 per cent) of these victims
were not in the workforce (ie. pensioners, retired,
home duties, unemployed). In 11 (22 per cent)
of the cases, the victims were employed in skilled
labour or trades at the time of their deaths. The
occupations of three (6 per cent) of the victims
were listed as unskilled labour. No fire death
victims working in professional occupations were
identified in the Queensland fire fatalities.
‘At risk’ groups
Based on the ages of fire victims and the relative
over-representation of some age groups (see
Table 2.5), elderly people aged over 65 years
and children aged between zero and four years
were identified as being most vulnerable to fire
death in Queensland. Details of these two
groups and the nature of the incidents which
claimed their lives are detailed in profiles
following.
Analysis of the available data from coroner’s and
Fire Investigation reports indicates that alcohol
and other intoxicants were implicated in a
substantial number of fire victims’ deaths. Alcohol
contributed to the deaths of 24 (34 per cent) of
the victims who were over the legal drinking age
of 18 years. Alcohol-related fire fatality victims as
another significant ‘at risk’ group are discussed
in the third profile.
ELDERLY 65 PLUS AGE
BRACKET - QUEENSLAND
Discussion
The 65 years and over age bracket made
up 26 (26 per cent) of the fire death victims
in Queensland. These victims were
predominantly male (62 per cent). In five
of the cases, no marital status was reported
for the elderly fire victims. In the remaining
21 cases, 15 of the victims were not
married, being either single, separated,
widowed or divorced. The occupation was
reported for 22 of the victims in this age
bracket, with 19 of these victims receiving
the pension. In only eight of the cases,
the dwelling type was reported, with six
of the victims living in one/two family
dwellings at the time of their deaths. There
were no victims identified as having an
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander heritage.
Burns and/or incineration (62 per cent) was
the prime cause of death for these victims,
with many of the victims dying in hospital
after being rescued from the fire. This is
primarily due to the fact that the victims
appear to have been present in the
ignition area at the time of the fire. For
example, some of the accidents involving
elderly people have resulted from cooking
fires, when their clothing has ignited while
lighting the stove. In some other cases,
the victims had been smoking in bed/
lounge chair prior to the ignition.
Consequently, due to their proximity to the
ignition source, the victims suffered severe
burns which were the main cause of their
deaths.
Alcohol does not appear to be a major
contributing factor in the deaths of these
elderly fire victims with only three of the
victims having had a positive blood alcohol
reading at the time of their deaths.
However, in a number of the fire deaths
involving elderly people, discarded or
unattended cigarettes were a contributing
factor to the fire.
In six (23 per cent) of the fatal fires, no
classification was given to the fire category.
In almost all of the remaining 20 cases, 19
(95 per cent) of the fires were classified as
being accidental/preventable. No trend is
evident as to the most frequent time of day
when these fatalities occurred. The area of
the fire origin also varied. Kitchens and
lounge areas were the most common places
where the fires originated. Negligence with
smoking materials (eg. smoking in bed) and
the ignition of clothing (eg. when cooking)
were some of the major causes of fires for
people in the over 65 years age bracket.
Smoke alarms were not reported to be present
in any of the structures where these fires
occurred.
FINDINGS
•
•
As the majority of these fires were
accidental and, therefore, preventable,
targeted fire safety education programs
would be beneficial in reducing fire
fatalities in this age group. These
education programs should not only be
targeted at the elderly, but also at
their caregivers and other people who
come into contact with the elderly
on a regular basis (eg. family doctor,
Meals-on-Wheels personnel, Blue
Nurses).
Ignition of clothing, and subsequent
death due to burns or incineration,
is a major cause of death among this
age group, which would indicate
problems associated with current
designs of clothing for the elderly,
for example, nightgowns with bell
sleeves.
RECOMMENDATIONS
It is recommended that:
2.12 The feasibility of providing smoke
alarms to specific target groups in the
community in cooperation with local
service clubs be investigated.
2.13 QFRA Fire Safety Education programs
should be developed to target aged
people emphasising fire safety issues
in kitchen environments and the
dangers of garments igniting from
exposed heat sources.
2.14 QFRA and the Australasian Fire
Authorities Commission should contact
the clothing manufacturers associations regarding the design and
flammability of nightgowns, pyjamas,
bathrobes and towels and request
flammability ratings be placed on items
after 1 January 2000.
2.15 The Fire Safety Unit, QFRA, liaise with
the Department of Mines & Energy, the
Office of Consumer Affairs and
appliance manufacturers/retailers to
investigate the feasibility of further
promoting the need to identify, repair
or assist in replacing old or defective
electrical appliances.
2.16 QFRA research other mediums for
ensuring effective communication with
the elderly, including doctors, carers,
adult children, Meals on Wheels,
church groups, messages on, or
inclusions with, electricity/telephone/
rates bills.
CHILDREN AGED BETWEEN ZERO
AND FOUR YEARS QUEENSLAND
Discussion
In Queensland, 16 (16 per cent) of fire deaths
victims were aged between zero and four
years, with the majority (88 per cent) of these
victims being male. The major cause of death
in this age bracket was from burns and/or
incineration (63 per cent).
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
The fire problem
The fire problem
In 13 of these fatal fires involving this age
group,the majority (85 per cent) of the fires
were classified as accidental/preventable. Most
of the deaths occurred because of the inability
of the children to escape from the fire. This
also related to the fact that most fatal fires
31
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
occurred during the night and early morning.
Recent research undertaken by the Victorian
University of Technology has identified that
sleeping children are less likely than adults to
be woken by the current range of smoke alarms
because they sleep more deeply. This deeper
sleep also makes it less likely for sleeping
children to be woken by smoke or fire noise.
In addition, some children have died when
parents or adults have misjudged the speed
at which fires develop and attempted to rescue
some children before returning for other
children.
Another probable cause of the deaths of these
victims aged between zero and four years is
child fire play. Only two deaths in this age
bracket were positively identified as being the
result of child fire play. However, in three of
the other deaths, although no suspicious
circumstances were reported, children under
the age of 16 years were present in the area of
fire origin at the time of the ignition. The fact
that these victims died from burns/incineration
indicates that these deaths may have also been
the result of child fire play.
Juvenile fire lighting differs from child fire play
in intent as the children involved in child fire
play are too young to understand the
consequence of their actions. Many factors
contribute to children playing with fire, from
ordinary, uninformed curiosity among the very
young to learning disabilities, child abuse and
emotional disturbances. The latter problems
tend to be associated with older children, but
may also be factors in the behaviour of younger
children in whom such problems often go
unrecognised’ (Conley and Fahy, 1994:104). As
the problems associated with child fire play and
juvenile fire lighting may be the result of many
social and emotional factors, an inter-agency
approach is required to adequately address the
problem.
There were no smoke alarms reported in any
of the premises involving the deaths of children
aged between zero and four years.
FINDINGS
•
32
Young children are more susceptible
to dying in fires than other members
of a family, particularly at night.
•
Young children are also at risk of
death from child fire play.
•
Child fire play and juvenile fire lighting
may be the result of a number of social
and emotional factors.
RECOMMENDATIONS
It is recommended that:
2.17 QFRA review current fire safety
campaigns to ensure that the speed
and development of a fire and the need
for parents to evacuate all children at
the same time, as well as the need for
well rehearsed evacuation plans, are
emphasised.
2.18 A publicity campaign be launched by
QFRA in conjunction with P & C
associations and other parent groups
to encourage parents to prepare and
rehearse fire safety evacuation plans
for the home and adjoining buildings.
2.19 QFRA establish a juvenile fire
awareness and intervention program
supported at a State level.
2.20 Research be initiated by QFRA into
the use of ef fective learning
strategies to further enhance
children’s awareness of fire safety
issues beyond early childhood years
and extending the ‘Fire Ed’ program
to involve mid primary school age
children.
2.21 QFRA:
(i)
develop a team-based approach
to further develop and implement
effective fire safety school education
and awareness initiatives, involving
curriculum specialists, expert teachers,
text book publishers and parent
representatives
(ii) initiate discussions with the
Department of Education to second
two or three teachers (curriculum
specialists) for two years to assist with
the development of appropriate
curriculum
resources
which
emphasise ef fective fire safety
messages and marketing strategies.
cases, it was not possible to determine the
property ownership. In the remaining 16
cases, the majority (75 per cent) of these
fires occurred in privately owned rental
properties.
Discussion
In Queensland, 71 of the fire victims were over
the legal drinking age of 18 years. Of these
71 victims, 24 victims had alcohol in their blood
streams at the time of death. The majority
(84 per cent) of these victims were male. The
age of the victims varied and is not a common
factor across the group. In the 20 cases
where the marital status of the victims was
identified, 16 victims were not married, with
many victims living in group households,
such as sharing a house with other men.
None of the victims were identified as having
an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander heritage.
An occupation was reported for 16 of the 24
victims. The occupations for six of the victims
were skilled labour and trades. It was
identified that eight of the alcohol-related fire
death victims whose occupations were
identified, were either receiving the pension
or unemployed.
The blood alcohol levels of 92 per cent of
the alcohol-related fire death victims were well
over 50mg/100ml (the legal limit for drink
driving), with 14 of the victims recording
blood alcohol readings over 200mg/100ml.
Smoke inhalation was the main cause of
death for 15 of the victims of alcohol-related
fire deaths.
The fire problem
In 4 (17 per cent) of the alcohol-related fire
categories, the fire category was
undetermined, with the remaining 20 cases
classified as being accidental/preventable.
Two of the fatalities were deemed to be
probable suicides. The alarm time was not
reported in eight of the cases. However,
where the alarm time was recorded, the eight
hours between midnight and 8.00am (75per
cent) was the most frequent time when
fatalities occurred. Lounge rooms and
bedrooms were the areas where a number
of the fires originated. Discarded smoking
materials, such as a smouldering cigarette
on the lounge and probable electrical faults,
were the most common causes. In eight
There were no smoke alarms reported in any
of these properties.
FINDINGS
•
Alcohol and lifestyle in non-family
group housing arrangements are
contributing factors in a significant
number of fire deaths.
•
The presence of smoke alarms to give
early warning of a fire may reduce
the number of alcohol-related fire
fatalities.
2.6 Property type and ownership
Only 50 (50 per cent) of the cases could be clearly
identified as belonging to particular property types.
Of those properties clearly identified in the
research, 40 of the fire fatalities occurred in
dwellings designed to accommodate one to two
families. The remaining properties identified were
apartments, caravans, a complex specialising in
care for the handicapped and a farm.
Figure 2.5 - Property status - Fire fatalities
1991/92 to 1995/96
Owner occupied (20)
Rentals (43)
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
ALCOHOL RELATED FIRE
DEATHS - QUEENSLAND
Unknown (38)
33
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
34
Analysis into the ownership status of the
properties revealed that, in 38 (38 per cent) of
the cases, the property ownership was unknown.
However, of those 63 cases where the ownership
was known, 43 fire fatalities occurred in properties
that were listed as being rental properties. Figure
2.5 shows the breakdown of the ownership of
Queensland properties identified in this study.
Of those cases that occurred in rental properties,
four of the fatalities occurred in properties that
were positively identified as being owned by the
Queensland Government. The remainder of the
rental properties were privately owned. A study in
New Zealand between 1 January 1986 and 31
December 1990 also identified that people residing
in privately owned rental accommodation were
vulnerable to fatal fires (Cropp, 1991, p7). This
vulnerability in Queensland was heightened by the
fact that there were no smoke alarms present in
any of the properties.
Therefore, strategies directed to peak bodies such
as the Property Owners Association and the Real
Estate Institute of Queensland would be beneficial
in reducing the number of potentially fatal fires in
rental properties. The work already underway by
the Department of Public Works and Housing to
install mains powered smoke alarm systems in all
their properties is a positive step and should
receive ongoing support to ensure that systems
are maintained and new tenants are kept informed
about fire safety. Promotional campaigns
highlighting the specific issues relevant to both
property owners and renters would also be
advantageous.
FINDINGS
•
Where information was available, it
was found that most fire fatalities
occurred in properties designated as
one or two family dwellings.
•
Where ownership of the properties
could be ascertained, close to half of
the fire fatalities were found to occur
in private rental properties.
•
A number of fatal fires occurred in
properties that are probably not
covered by Queensland smoke alarm
legislation.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that:
2.22 The Chief Commissioner, QFRA, liaise
with the Director-General, Department
of Public Works and Housing,
regarding the potential mandatory
introduction of smoke alarms to
private rental properties.
2.7 Major causes of fatal fires
Fire category
Fire category is the determination of the general
cause of the fire in terms of being (i) deliberate,
(ii) accidental/preventable or (iii) undetermined.
In 25 (25 per cent) of the fatal fires, there were
no classifications given as to the fire category. In
the remaining 76 cases, 66 of the fatal fires that
occurred between 1 July 1991 and 30 June 1996
were categorised as being accidental/ preventable.
This finding suggests that targeted fire safety
awareness and prevention campaigns may help
reduce the number of preventable fire deaths in
the future. In 10 of the cases examined, the
fires were deliberately lit with the intention to
cause harm either to the person who lit the fire
or to others.
FINDING
•
The majority of fatal fires are
accidental/preventable and, therefore,
the QFRA focus on reducing all forms
of loss due to such fires is likely to be
a realistic and effective mission.
Cause of fire
In 57 (57 per cent) of all the fire fatalities, there
was insufficient information to identify the cause
of the fires. However, in the remaining 44 cases,
14 of the victims died as a result of fires caused
by heat from smokers’ materials such as a
discarded match or a smouldering cigarette. Fires
in the kitchen accounted for eight of the fire
fatalities, with unattended food items being left
on the stove and the ignition of victim’s clothing
being some of the most frequently cited causes.
Portable heaters were also identified as a
common fire cause in which nine victims
FINDINGS
•
•
•
A large number of fires have the fire
cause listed as undetermined.
Discarded smoking materials are the
most common cause of fatal fires.
The use/misuse of heating and cooking
equipment are known fire causes.
Cause of death
In Queensland, smoke inhalation (50 per cent)
and burn/incineration (50 per cent) were equally
the most common causes of death due to fire.
This is significantly different to the other States
and Territories where smoke inhalation was clearly
the major cause. The majority (54 per cent) of
the victims who had their cause of death listed
as burns/incineration were either young children
aged between zero to four years or elderly
people aged over 65 years (Section 2.5).
FINDING
•
The balance between smoke inhalation
and burns as the cause of death in
Queensland is significantly different to
all other States.
RECOMMENDATIONS
It is recommended that:
2.23 QFRA investigate the feasibility of
introducing a process to ensure that
all reports for a fire incident (ie. First
Attending Officer Report, AIRS report,
Fire Investigation Report) are easily
cross referenced with AIRS and are
updated as new information becomes
available as the current AIRS system
does not allow for further data to be
added into the report af ter
investigation by the Fire Investigation
Unit.
2.24 The Chief Commissioner, QFRA,
initiate dialogue with State Coroner’s
Office and the State Pathologist to
ensure that information relating to
death by smoke inhalation, that is,
carbon monoxide poisoning and the
levels of carboxyhemoglobin (COBH)
and alcohol in the victims blood, be
determined and recorded in a
consistent
fashion
across
Queensland.
2.25 QFRA liaise with all key stakeholders
(Fire Safety, FIU, Arson Squad, Police
Scientific Services, Department of
Minerals
and
Energy,
Fire
Investigation
Association)
in
investigating causes of fire and
sources of ignition to make best use
of
available
resources
and
information.
2.8 Smoke alarms
Information on domestic smoke alarms was not
well collected over the period of the survey. This
has been due in part to initial problems with the
terminology on recording forms which did not
adequately distinguish between smoke detectors
and smoke alarms. A smoke detector is a device
that detects the presence of smoke and activates
a separate alarm, whereas a smoke alarm is a
device which both detects the presence of
smoke and contains an inbuilt alarm.
In 74 (73 per cent) of the fatal cases, there was
no record made regarding smoke alarms. For 24
(24 per cent) of the fire death victims, it was
positively identified that there were no smoke
alarms present in the structures at the time of
the fires. In one of the Queensland fires, a smoke
alarm was present in the room of the fire origin
and it did operate, however, it was improperly
positioned on top of a refrigerator. In another
fire, in which two people were killed, smoke
alarms were in the room of the fire origin, but
they failed to operate.
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
perished. For six of the victims, the fire cause
was attributed to problems associated with
electrical equipment either through electrical
faults or through the overloading of power
outlets. Candles, mosquito coils and deliberately
lit fires using accelerants were also listed as the
cause of fires in the remaining identified cases.
35
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
36
FINDINGS
•
•
Table 2.7 - Fatal fires per risk category
1/7/91 - 30/6/96 - Queensland
Identification and recording of the
presence of domestic smoke alarms
has not been carried out effectively
in the past.
Where information was available,
smoke alarms were not generally
present in fatal incidents.
Risk Category
No. of Fatal Fires Percentage
A
0
0%
B
0
0%
C
44
56%
D
20
25%
E
15
19%
Special risk
0
0
See Table 2.6 for explanation and determination of
risk categories.
2.9 Location of fatal fires
Risk categories
Analysis was performed to determine in which risk
categories the fatal fires occurred in Queensland
between 1 July 1991 and 30 June 1996. Risk
categorisation is based on field assessments of
parameters such as building construction, levels
and types of occupancy, dispersion and density
factors. Six classes of risk have been determined
which provide a system of assessment of risk to
life and property in the event of the fire.
of C, D and E risk categories. In order to reduce
the number of preventable fire deaths, it is
essential that an integrated fire service delivery
strategy be developed which places an increased
emphasis on fire prevention strategies.
Table 2.6 provides a summary of the various risk
categories.
•
Most QFRA resources are concentrated in areas of
A and B risk categories on the basis that these areas
are at greatest risk of major emergency. QFRA,
therefore, seek s to ensure that sufficient
resources (including special appliances) are
available to respond to fires in large buildings or
other complexes. As shown in Table 2.7, no
fatalities have occurred in areas of A, B or Special
Risk categories over the duration of the study. A
fire service delivery strategy, which seeks to
reduce the number of fire deaths, cannot rely
on response and suppression alone in the areas
FINDING
All structural fire fatalities during the
period of study occurred in C, D and E
risk category areas.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that:
2.26 The work underway to integrate hazard
information, fire incident data, socioeconomic data and risk profiles of
various community groups continue to
be used to enhance the development
of regional, area and local risk
management plans.
Table 2.6 - QFRA risk categories
High risk, typically continuous runs of high-rise buildings in larger cities.
Substantial risk, typically in larger cities or towns with continuously built-up areas of substantial size.
Moderate risk (although it may be relatively high in certain areas), typically in the suburbs of larger towns and built-up
areas of smaller towns.
Lower risk, typically on the periphery of the suburbs or larger towns and the periphery of the built-up areas of smaller
D Risk
towns (and particularly in areas of urban/rural interface).
Remote rural risk, isolated from any centres of population and containing few buildings.
E Risk
Special risk Includes such facilities as airports, hospitals, high-rise buildings, major chemical storage sites and prisons.
A Risk
B Risk
C Risk
The quality of fire incident reporting varies
considerably, resulting in significant gaps in the
data. Using the information captured in
Queensland as an example, the following
findings were identified.
FINDINGS
•
Out of 79 structure fires involving
fatalities between 1 July 1991 - 30 June
1996, 44 (56 per cent) were entirely
unreported through AIRS. This is due,
in part, to industrial action during
some extended periods.
The
importance of data collected for AIRS
needs to be further highlighted to
operational fire fighters.
•
Of those cases where AIRS reports were
filed, significant portions of the forms
were incomplete or inconsistent over
the five years. New categories of
information have been added at
different times causing confusion
when making comparisons over a
number of years.
•
There is an apparent lack of consistency
in reporting some categories of
information.
RECOMMENDATIONS
It is recommended that:
2.27 An on-scene aide-memoir for fire
fighters be developed and introduced
to assist them with the completion of
an incident reporting form at a later
stage and that the QFRA liaise with the
Queensland Police to evaluate the
effectiveness of current technologies
to assist with on-scene incident
reporting.
2.28 A review of existing systems which
assist in the movement of incident
information from station to head office
and back be initiated to enhance the
flow of information.
2.29 The ‘Other’ or ‘Unreported’ categories
in the AIRS form be eliminated.
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
2.10 AIRS and fire incident
reporting
37
3.1 Overview
3.2 Time of fatal fires
There were 234 fire fatalities in 188 structural fires
in New South Wales between 1 July 1991 and 30
June 1996. The number of fire death victims
peaked in the 1991/92 and the 1995/1996 financial
years.
Time of death analysis
Table 3.1 lists the number of fire fatalities that
have occurred in structures between 1 July 1991
and 30 June 1996.
Figure 3.1 compares the NSW fire death rate per
100,000 people to the national fire death rate over
the research period. The NSW fire death rate
per 100,000 people has been above the national
average except in the 1994/95 financial year.
It was not possible to perform a time of death
analysis on 83 (35 per cent) of the cases as either
a time of death was not listed for the victims or
no fire service alarm time was recorded. The
following analysis is based on the remaining 151
fire death victims.
The time of death was recorded as being either
prior to or coinciding with the Fire Brigade alarm
time for 88 of the fire death victims. For the
remaining 63 victims whose time of death was
listed as after the Fire Brigade alarm time, the state
of the fire prior to the arrival of the Fire Brigade
Table 3.1 - New South Wales Fire Deaths
Financial
Year
1991/92
1992/93
1993/94
1994/95
1995/96
Number of
victims
50
43
48
38
55
Deaths per
100,000
0.82
0.73
0.73
0.57
0.82
Figure 3.1 - New South Wales Fire Deaths (Compared to National Trend)
1.1
1
0.9
Deaths per 100,000
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
3. NEW SOUTH WALES
New South Wales
Australia
0.82
0.82
0.8
0.73
0.7
0.6
0.73
0.66
0.55
0.57
0.63
0.6
0.57
0.5
0.4
0.3
38
1991/92
1992/93
1993/94
Financial years
1994/95
1995/96
The recorded level of fire involvement in 39 cases
is considered to be sufficient to lead to the death
of people within the structure. Therefore, by
taking into account these cases together with
those persons who were recorded to be
deceased either prior to or coinciding with the
Fire Brigade alarm time, it is possible that 127 of
the victims were deceased prior to or coinciding
with the alarm time of the Fire Brigade.
•
Early detection of the presence of
smoke is critical to achieving a
reduction in preventable fire deaths.
Analysis of the research data highlighted that 147
(63 per cent) of the fire fatalities occurred in the
second half of the year.
In particular, the months of July, August and
September recorded the largest number (40 per
cent) of fire fatalities. Deliberately lit fires with
the intent to cause harm either to the person
lighting the fire or to others was identified as a
major cause of these fatal fires.
Table 3.2 - State of fire on arrival of fire service New South Wales
No. of
cases
Where information is available on time
of death, alarm time and the level of
involvement of the fire, it is possible
to estimate that the majority of fire
fatality victims died prior to or
coinciding with the Fire Service alarm
time.
Month of the year
Table 3.2 sets out the recorded level of involvement
of the fatal fires prior to the arrival of the Fire
Brigade.
State of the fire on arrival of
the Fire Service (for cases
where the time of death
was recorded as after
alarm time).*
•
Percentage
Accidents involving heaters were also identified
as a significant cause of the fires in July, August
and September in New South Wales. In particular,
a number of the fires involving heaters occurred
whilst the victims were asleep, with the fire being
caused by either having combustibles too close
to the heating unit or by having combustibles (eg.
bedclothes) fall onto the heating unit. Another
problem associated with heater accidents is that
some of the victims were either elderly or physically
incapacitated which made it difficult for them to
rapidly move away from the fire source once the
Well alight
23
37%
Fully involved
9
14%
Heavy smoke
7
11%
One room only
4
6%
Intense burning in room
1
2%
Small fire
1
2%
Fire out
1
2%
Unknown
17
27%
*Fire scene descriptions as given by witnesses and fire service
personnel at the time of the fire.
Figure 3.2 - Deaths per month (period 1991/92 to 1995/96)
Number of victims
40
39
30
30
20
25
21
Jan
23
21
16
15
10
0
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
FINDINGS
was analysed. For 39 of these 63 victims, the
state of the fire was described by witnesses as
being fully involved, well alight or very smoky prior
to the arrival of the Fire Brigade. In 17 cases, it
was not possible to determine the state of the
fire prior to the arrival of the Fire Brigade.
10
9
Feb
Mar
14
11
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Months
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
39
August recorded the highest number of fire
deaths (17 per cent) for a single month
throughout the research period. Deliberately lit
fires accounted for the largest number of fires,
with accidents involving heaters, discarded
smoking materials, faults with electrical blankets
and power overloading of electrical outlets being
the other causes of August fires. A minor peak
occurring in January is, in part, attributable to
bushfire-related deaths. There was no significant
pre-Christmas fire death peak in New South Wales
during the research period.
FINDING
•
The majority of fire deaths occurred
during July, August and September.
Time of day
Analysis was performed on the 234 fatalities in
order to determine the time of day when the
majority of these fatal fires occurred. In New
South Wales, it was not possible to perform the
analysis for 16 (7 per cent) of the cases because
no alarm time was recorded. The following
analysis is based on the remaining 218 cases:
One hundred fire fatalities occurred between the
hours of midnight and 8.00 am. Fifty-eight victims
died between 6pm and midnight, with 60 fire
death victims dying between the hours of 8.00 am
and 6.00 pm.
Figure 3.3 - Deaths Time of Day
Number of victims
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
40
fire was detected. Discarded smoking materials
were also identified as another cause of the July,
August and September fatal fires.
110
100
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0 00:00 to 08:00
60
08:00 to 18:00
Time of day
58
18:00 to 00:00
FINDING
•
The majority of fatal fires occurred
between the hours of midnight and
8.00am, a time when most people are
asleep and not alert to potential or
actual danger.
3.3 Demographic & socioeconomic characteristics of
the victims
Gender and age of the victims
The gender was not recorded for 26 of the fire
death victims. Of the remaining 208 victims, 125
(60 per cent) were males. The 65 years and over
age bracket represented 23 per cent of fire death
victims, while children aged between zero and
four years represented 12 per cent of fire death
victims.
Table 3.3 identifies the percentage breakdown by
age group for the New South Wales fire victims.
FINDING
•
Where the age of fire death victims was
recorded, people aged 65 years and
over and children aged zero to four
years represented 23 per cent and 12
per cent of fire death victims
respectively.
Birthplace and ethnicity of the victims
It was not possible to determine the birthplace for
89 (38 per cent) of the fire death victims in New
South Wales. For the remaining 145 victims,
Australia was cited as the place of birth for 107 of
the fire death victims. The remaining fire death
victims came from a wide range of countries and
locations including New Zealand, England,
Ireland, Wales, Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Sri
Lanka, Egypt, Uganda, Fiji, Tonga, Switzerland,
Germany, Sweden, France, Latvia, Mauritius, Italy,
Turkey, Iceland and the Republic of
Czechoslovakia.
In only one case was it positively identified that
the victim came from an Aboriginal or Torres Strait
Islander heritage.
Age groupings
(Years)
Total no.
of victims
Percentage of
known total (190)
Age group as a % of
New South Wales population*
0-4
5-9
10 - 14
15 - 19
20 - 24
25 - 29
30 - 34
35 - 39
40 - 44
45 - 49
50 - 54
55 - 59
60 - 64
65 - 69
70 - 74
75 - 79
80 - 84
85+
Unknown
23
9
6
9
11
17
9
14
16
12
7
8
6
3
11
10
9
10
44
12%
5%
3%
5%
6%
9%
5%
7%
8%
6%
4%
4%
3%
2%
6%
5%
5%
5%
N/A
7%
7%
7%
7%
8%
8%
8%
8%
7%
7%
5%
5%
4%
4%
3%
2%
2%
1%
N/A
*Source: Average of ABS Estimated Resident Population June Quarter 1991 to 1996. The percentage totals may not add up to 100% due to
the rounding of individual age brackets.
FINDINGS
•
Birthplace was not recorded for 38 per
cent of fire death victims.
•
Where birthplace was recorded, 74 per
cent of fire death victims were born
in Australia.
Occupations of the victims
The occupations of the fire death victims were
analysed in order to determine if there were any
factors which were common to the employment
characteristics of the victims. However, due to
insufficient information it was not possible to
determine the occupations for 54 of the fire death
victims. Of the remaining 180 fire death victims,
40 were either children or students. Therefore
the following analysis is based upon the
remaining 140 fire death victims:
Seventy-four of the fire death victims were either
pensioners, retired, home duties or unemployed
at the time of their death. Twenty-seven of the
victims were skilled labourers and/or tradespersons and a further 11 of the victims were
employed in unskilled labour.
Seven of the victims were identified as
professionals. Twenty-one of the victims were
identified as being invalids at the time of their
deaths.
FINDING
•
Where occupation was identified, a
significant number of fire death victims
were identified as being either
pensioners, retired, involved in home
duties or unemployed at their time of
their deaths.
‘At risk’ groups
Elderly people aged 65 years and older (23 per
cent) together with children aged between zero
and four years (12 per cent) were identified as
being the most at risk of fire death. Alcohol
appears to have been a contributing factor in 32
(17 per cent) of the fire deaths of people aged
over the legal drinking age.
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
Table 3.3 - Age of fire death victims (Male and Female) - New South Wales
41
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
CHILDREN AGED BETWEEN
ZERO AND FOUR YEARS - NEW
SOUTH WALES
Discussion
In New South Wales, 23 (12 per cent) of the
fire death victims were children aged
between zero and four years. The majority
(70 per cent) of these victims were male.
There were no victims from an Aboriginal or
Torres Strait Islander background. While it
was not possible to determine the cause of
death for four (17 per cent) of the victims,
smoke inhalation was identified as the major
cause of death for the remaining 19 fire death
victims who were aged between zero and
four years. Smoke inhalation and burns/
incineration were listed as the cause of
death for five of the victims, with one victim
dying as a result of burns/incineration.
The fire problem
In 11 of the fatal fires, the category of fire was
recorded, with nine of the fire fatalities
resulting from accidental/preventable fires.
For six of the fire fatalities that occurred in
accidental/preventable fires, it was highly
probable that the fires were a result of child
fire play.
There were no smoke alarms reported to be
present in any of the structures where the
deaths of children aged between zero and
four years occurred.
FINDINGS
•
A majority of fire death victims aged
zero to four years died from
accidental/preventable fires.
•
Young children are also at risk of death
from child fire play.
ELDERLY 65 PLUS AGE BRACKET
- NEW SOUTH WALES
Discussion
In New South Wales, 43 (23 per cent) of the
fire deaths victims were aged 65 years and
older. It was not possible to identify the
gender of eight of the victims. Of the
remaining 35 victims, 18 of these victims
were female. For seven of the 65 years and
over victims, it was not possible to determine
their marital status. However, for the
remaining 36 victims, 28 of the victims were
either widowed, single, separated or
divorced. In 40 cases, the occupations of
the victims were identified, with 19 of the
victims being on the pension and 18 of the
victims retired. One of the victims was
classified as an invalid. There were no victims
identified as belonging to either an Aboriginal
or Torres Strait Islander background.
Twenty of the fire victims were residing in one
or two family homes at the time of their death.
The ownership of the properties was
identified in 27 of the cases, with 23 of the
victims living in owner-occupied premises.
Smoke inhalation (36 per cent) was the major
cause of death, with 33 per cent of the
victims dying as a result of the combination
of smoke inhalation and incineration.
The fire problem
The category of fire was not available for nine
of the cases. For the remaining 34 victims, 27
fire victims died in fires that were classified as
being accidental/preventable. The time when
the fires occurred was reported for 41 of the
cases, with the hours between midnight and
8.00 am being the most (46 per cent)
frequent time when these fatal fires occurred.
Accidents involving heaters and fires
resulting from discarded smoking materials
were the major causes of fatal fires involving
elderly people.
There were no smoke alarms reported to be
present in any of the structures where these
fatal fires occurred.
42
•
•
As the majority of these fires were
accidental and, therefore, preventable,
targeted fire safety education programs
would be beneficial in reducing fire
fatalities in this age group. These
education programs should not only be
targeted at the elderly, but also to
their caregivers and other people who
come into contact with the elderly,
on a regular basis (eg. family doctor,
Meals-on-Wheels personnel, Blue
Nurses).
Ignition of clothing, and subsequent
death resulting from burns or
incineration is a major cause of death
among this age group, which would
indicate problems associated with
current designs of clothing for the
elderly, for example, nightgowns with
bell sleeves.
INVALIDS - NEW SOUTH WALES
Discussion
There were 21 (15 per cent) fire death victims
who were classified as being invalids at the
time of their deaths. There was no age
available for 12 of the victims, with the ages
of the remaining nine victims ranging from
28 to 87 years. It was not possible to
determine the gender for one of the victims.
Of the remaining 20 victims, 13 (65 per cent)
were males. The marital status was available
for nine victims, with none of the victims
being married at the time of their deaths. A
combination of smoke inhalation and burns
was the major (71 per cent) cause of death
for the invalid victims. Five of the victims died
from burns and/or incineration, with the
remaining victim dying solely from smoke
inhalation.
There were no smoke alarms reported to
be present in any of the structures where
these fires occurred.
3.4 Property type and ownership
In 167 (71 per cent) of the cases, the property
type where the fatal fires occurred was identified.
Of those properties clearly identified in the
research, 127 (76 per cent) of the properties were
listed as dwellings designed to accommodate
one to two families. Residential apartment
complexes were also identified as a property type
where 21 (13 per cent) of the fire fatalities
occurred. The remaining properties identified
were caravans, camp sites, public recreation
facilities, medical complexes and industrial
warehouses.
Analysis into the ownership status of the properties
revealed that, in 90 (38 per cent) cases, it was
not possible to identify the ownership of the
property. However, of those 144 cases where
the property ownership was known, 76 of the
properties were listed as being rental properties.
Of those 76 rental properties identified, 44 of the
properties were privately owned rental properties
with the remaining 32 properties being owned
by the Government. These Government rental
properties can be further broken down into the
following categories: 29 State Government rental
properties and three Commonwealth
Government rental properties.
Figure 3.4 shows the breakdown of the
ownership of the New South Wales properties
identified in this research.
Figure 3.4 - Property Status
Public rentals (32)
The fire problem
The majority (90 per cent) of the invalid fire
death victims died in accidental/preventable
fires. Twelve of the invalid victims died in a
single fire that occurred in a hostel. For those
remaining seven victims that died in
accidental/preventable fires, it appears that
their escape from the fire was limited due to
their decreased mobility and inability to rapidly
respond to the fire situation.
Private rentals (44)
Unknown (90)
Owner occupied (68)
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
FINDINGS
43
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
44
FINDINGS
•
Where information was available, it
was found that most fire fatalities
occurred in properties designated as
one to two family dwellings.
•
Where the ownership of the
properties could be ascertained, a
slightly higher number of fire fatalities
were found to occur in rental
properties.
3.5 Major causes of fatal fires
Fires resulting from bushfires, direct flame,
cooking accidents, candles, gas, explosions,
accelerants and air conditioning were some other
identified causes of fatal fires in New South Wales
during the research period.
FINDINGS
•
Thirty-two per cent of fire death
victims did not have the cause of the
fire determined.
•
Twenty-nine per cent of fire death
victims (where data was available) had
the cause listed as discarded smoking
materials and accidents involving
lighters and matches.
Category of fire
Due to insufficient information, it was not possible
to determine the category of fire for 91 (39 per
cent) of the cases. In the remaining 143 cases,
98 of the fatal fires were categorised as being
accidental/preventable. As these fires were
accidental, it follows that a majority of the fires
could have been prevented. The finding
highlights the need for further emphasis on
targeted fire safety education to reach those
people in the community who are most at risk
from fire. In 45 of the fires examined during the
research period, the fires were reported to be
deliberately lit with intent to harm either the
person lighting the fire or others.
Cause of fire
In 75 (32 per cent) of the cases, it was not possible
to determine the cause of the fire. Of the
remaining 159 cases, 45 of the fires were
deliberately lit with the intention to harm either
the person lighting the fire or to others. Discarded
smoking materials and accidents involving
lighters and matches were the cause for 46 fires
in the accidental/preventable category. Portable
heaters (13 per cent) were also cited as a cause
of fatal fires, as were problems associated with
electrical equipment (13 per cent) either through
electrical faults or through the overloading of
power outlets. In two of the fatal fires involving
electrical equipment, faulty electric blankets were
identified as being the cause of these fires.
Cause of death
It was not possible to determine the cause of death
for 48 (21 per cent) of the fire death victims. For
a further 17 victims, their cause of death could
not be attributed to the fires. Therefore, the
following analysis is based on the remaining 169
fire death victims.
Smoke inhalation was the single major cause of
death for 81 of the fire death victims. Burns and
incineration accounted for 46 of the deaths within
the research period. In a number of cases, the
coroner had assigned a dual cause of death for
fire death victims by incorporating smoke
inhalation and burns/incineration. In New South
Wales, 42 of the victims died as a result of a
reported combination of smoke inhalation and
burns/incineration.
FINDING
•
Smoke inhalation was the sole or
partial cause of death for 123 victims.
For 107 of the fire death victims, it was not
established whether there were any smoke
alarms present or if they did operate in the
structures at the time of the fire.
For 125 (53 per cent) of the fire death victims, it
was positively identified that there were no smoke
alarms present in the structure at the time of the
fire. For two (nine per cent) of the victims, it was
reported that there was some fire detection
equipment present in the structure, but it was
unable to be classified under the AIRS system.
FINDINGS
•
Identification and recording of the
presence of domestic smoke alarms
has not been carried out effectively in
the past.
•
Where information was available,
smoke alarms were not generally
present in fatal incidents.
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
3.6 Smoke alarms
45
4.1 Overview
4.2 Time of fatal fires
In Victoria, there were 109 structural fires which
resulted in 131 deaths between 1 July 1991 and 30
June 1996. The number of fire deaths in Victoria
has decreased over the past five years. Table 4.1
shows the number of fire deaths that have
occurred in structures between 1 July 1991 and
30 June 1996.
Time of death analysis
It was only possible to analyse the time of death
relative to Fire Service alarm time for 13 (10 per
cent) of the fire fatalities in Victoria as no time of
death was assigned by the Coroner for the
remaining 118 cases. For those 13 cases where a
time of death was recorded, nine of the fire
fatalities occurred either before or coinciding with
the Fire Service alarm time. In the two of the
four cases where the time of death was recorded
as being after alarm time, the state of the fire
was recorded by witnesses as being well involved
Table 4.1 - Victoria Fire Deaths
Financial
Year
1991/92
1992/93
1993/94
1994/95
1995/96
Number of
victims
30
32
28
23
18
Deaths per
100,000
0.67
0.72
0.62
0.51
0.39
Figure 4.1 - Victoria Fire Deaths (Compared to National Trend)
0.8
0.7
0.6
Deaths per 100,000
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
4. VICTORIA
0.72
0.67
0.55
0.66
0.63
0.57
0.6
0.62
0.5
0.51
0.4
0.39
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
46
Victoria
Australia
1991/92
1992/93
1993/94
Financial years
1994/95
1995/96
Number of Victims
20
18
18
16
15
10
9
10
12
9
10
7
4
5
0
16
2
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
at the time of arrival of the Fire Service. In the
remaining two cases, the level of involvement of
the fire on arrival of the Fire Service was minimal
and could not be used to project the state of the
victim prior to the arrival of the Fire Service.
Therefore, by taking into account the recorded
level of involvement of the fire together with
those victims who were identified as dying either
before or coinciding with alarm time, 11 of the 13
fire death victims (who had a time of death
assigned) were deceased before the Fire Service
was called.
FINDINGS
•
The time of death for the majority
(90 per cent) of fire death victims was
not recorded.
•
Where information is available on time
of death, alarm time and the level of
involvement of the fire, it is possible
to predict that the majority of fire
fatality victims are dying prior to or
coinciding with the Fire Service alarm
time.
•
Early detection of the presence of
smoke is critical to achieving a
reduction in preventable fire deaths.
Jun
Jul
Months
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
(14 per cent) and November (14 per cent) were
the two single months when fatal fires most often
occurred. Heaters were the most common cause
of fatal fires in April, with the main source of
ignition resulting from combustibles being too
close to the heating equipment. Discarded
smoking materials and faulty electrical equipment
were some of the causes of the fatal November
fires. The summer months of November,
December and January recorded 34 per cent of
the fire fatalities during the research period.
Time of day
No alarm times were available for 55 (42 per cent)
of the fire death victims in Victoria. For the
remaining 76 fire fatalities where an alarm time
was recorded, 40 of the fire fatalities occurred
between midnight and 8.00 am. A major cause
(40 per cent) of these fatal fires was accidents
resulting from discarded smoking materials. The
period between 8.00 am and 6.00 pm was the
second highest time when 21 of the fire fatalities
occurred.
Figure 4.3 - Deaths time of day
Number of victims
Month of the year
The majority (62 per cent) of the fatal fires occurred
in Victoria during the second half of the year (ie.
July to December). The cooler months of July,
August and September recorded a significant
number of fire fatalities (28 per cent) with many
of the fires resulting from discarded smoking
materials, lighters and heating equipment. April
Aug
55
50
45
40
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0 00:00 to 08:00
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
Figure 4.2 - Deaths per month (period 1991/92 to 1995/96)
21
15
08:00 to 18:00
Time of day
18:00 to 00:00
47
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
48
FINDINGS
•
Alarm times were not recorded for the
fires in which 42 per cent of the
fatalities occurred.
•
Where the alarm time is recorded, the
majority (53 per cent) of fatalities
occurred between midnight and
8.00 am.
4.3 Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of
the victims
Gender and age of the victims
The gender of the victims was not reported in four
of the Victorian cases. However, in the remaining
127 fire fatalities, 57 per cent of the fire death
victims were male. People aged 65 years and
older (32 per cent) were identified as being
particularly at risk of fire death in the Victorian
study. Children in the zero to four years age
bracket (10 per cent) were also identified as
being vulnerable to dying in structural fires. This
group is over-represented by three per cent when
compared to the estimated percentage of the
Victorian population.
FINDING
•
Where the age of fire death victims was
recorded, people aged 65 years and
over and children aged zero to four
years represented 32 per cent and 10
per cent of fire death victims
respectively.
Birthplace and ethnicity of the victims
In 52 of the fire fatalities, no country of birth was
registered for the victims. In the remaining 79
cases, 65 victims were born in Australia. The
remaining victims came from Scotland, New
Zealand, Vietnam, Singapore, England, Austria,
Greece, Liechtenstein and Southern Europe.
Table 4.2 - Age of fire death victims (male and female) - Victoria
Age groupings
(Years)
Total no.
of victims
Percentage
Age group as a % of
Victorian population*
0-4
5-9
10 - 14
15 - 19
20 - 24
25 - 29
30 - 34
35 - 39
40 - 44
45 - 49
50 - 54
55 - 59
60 - 64
65 - 69
70 - 74
75 - 79
80 - 84
85+
Unknown
12
8
0
1
8
7
3
8
7
5
9
7
5
8
7
6
5
12
13
10%
7%
0%
0.8%
7%
6%
3%
7%
6%
4%
8%
6%
4%
7%
6%
5%
4%
10%
N/A
7%
7%
7%
7%
8%
8%
8%
8%
7%
6%
5%
4%
4%
4%
3%
2%
2%
1%
N/A
*Source: Average of ABS Estimated Resident Population June Quarter 1991 to 1996. The percentage totals may not add up to 100% due to
the rounding of individual age brackets.
•
Birthplace information was not
recorded for 40 per cent of fire death
victims.
•
Where birthplace was recorded, 65 fire
death victims were born in Australia.
up the highest proportion of deaths within
this age category. The marital status of
victims was identified in 28 of the cases,
with 19 of these victims being either single,
separated or divorced. In 27 of the cases
an occupation was listed for the victims.
The majority of these victims were either
retired, pensioner or involved in home
duties. The birthplace was available for 27
fire fatality victims, with 19 of the victims
citing Australia as their birthplace. The
remaining victims were born in a variety of
locations such as Scotland, Southern
Europe, Austria and Liechtenstein. No
ethnicity was reported for any of the victims.
Occupations of the victims
No occupations were listed for 45 (34 per cent)
of the fire death victims. For the remaining 86
fire death victims, 21 were recorded as being
children and students, 32 were listed as being
either retired, pensioner or undertaking home
duties, 14 were skilled labourers and seven of
the victims were recorded as being employed in
unskilled positions. Eight victims were employed
in managerial or professional occupations, with
a further four victims working in an office type
situation.
A cause of death was reported for 36 of the
victims. Smoke inhalation was the cause of
death for 20 victims in this age bracket, with
16 victims dying from burns and/or
incineration.
The fire problem
FINDINGS
•
Information relating to occupation was
not recorded for 34 per cent of fire
death victims.
•
The majority of fire death victims were
identified as being either pensioners,
retired, involved in home duties or
unemployed at the time of death.
In 20 of the fire fatalities, the category of
fire was unavailable. In the remaining 18
cases, 17 of the fatalities occurred in fires
that were classified as being accidental/
preventable. The alarm time was reported
in 24 of the fatal fires. The period between
midnight and 8.00 am was the time when
most (46 per cent) of these fire fatalities
occurred. The area of fire origin was not
reported in 21 of the cases. In the
remaining 17 cases, the bedroom, lounge
area and kitchen were the most vulnerable
areas for fires. The fire cause was not
reported for 15 of the fatal fires. Discarded
smoking materials and accidents involving
heating equipment were the most
common causes of fatal fires in the
remaining 23 cases.
‘At risk’ groups
The prominent ‘at risk’ groups in Victoria are people
aged 65 years and over and children aged
between zero and four years. The profiles for
these groups most at risk from fire deaths are
listed below:
Smoke detectors were either not reported or
not present in any of the fatal fires involving
people aged 65 years and over.
ELDERLY 65 PLUS AGE BRACKET
- VICTORIA
FINDING
Discussion
In Victoria, 38 (32 per cent) of the fire death
victims were aged 65 years and older (20 per
cent over-representation) when compared to
the estimated state resident population for
that age bracket. Females (55 per cent) made
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
FINDINGS
•
Where information was available, the
majority of elderly fire deaths were due
to fires that were classified as being
accidental/preventable.
49
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
50
CHILDREN AGED BETWEEN
ZERO AND FOUR YEARS VICTORIA
Discussion
In Victoria, 12 (10 per cent) of the fire victims
were aged between zero and four years. In
this age bracket, 83 per cent of the fire death
victims were male. The birthplace was not
reported for two of the fire fatality victims.
However, all of the remaining victims were
born in Australia. There was no ethnicity
recorded for the victims. The cause of death
of the victims was reported in 11 of the cases,
with smoke inhalation being the major cause
of death for nine of the victims aged
between zero and four years.
4.4 Property type and ownership
There was insufficient data to accurately classify
the property type where the majority of these
fire deaths occurred. However, based on the
information available, five fatalities occurred in
special accommodation, five in caravans and one
in a hostel.
In 99 of the cases, it was not possible to analyse
the type of ownership of the structures where
these fatal fires occurred. Based on the remaining
32 cases, 18 of the fatal fires occurred in rental
properties of which six of the properties were
clearly identified as being owned by the Victorian
State Government.
Figure 4.4 - Property Status
Fire Fatalities 1991/92 to 1995/96
Owner occupied (14)
Fire Problem
In seven of the fires, there was no
classification given as to the category of the
fire. However, the remaining five fires were
all classified as being accidental/preventable.
An alarm time was reported in six of the fatal
fires, with the hours between 8.00 am and
6.00 pm being the most frequent time (67
per cent) when fatal fires involving young
children occurred. The fire cause was reported
for six of the fires, with child fire play involving
matches and lighters accounting for 67 per
cent of the fatal fires in this age group.
Accidents involving heating equipment (33
per cent) was the other reported cause of
fires in this age bracket.
There were no smoke detectors reported to
be present in any of the fatal fires involving
young children.
FINDINGS
•
Where information is available, a
majority of fire death victims aged
zero to four years died from
accidental/preventable fires.
•
Smoke inhalation was the major cause
of death.
•
No smoke detectors were present.
Unknown (99)
Rental (18)
FINDING
•
Where information was available on
the ownership of structures, the
majority were rental premises.
4.5 Major causes of fatal fires
Records of 63 of the Victorian fire fatalities that
occurred in structures contained no details of the
fire category. However, in the remaining 68 cases,
63 of the fire fatalities occurred in fires that were
classified as being accidental/preventable. In five
of the cases, the fires were deliberately lit with
the intention to cause harm to either the person
who lit the fire or others.
4.6 Smoke alarms
The reporting of smoke alarms was either
undetermined or not reported in 115 (88 per cent)
of the fatal fires that occurred in Victoria between
1 July 1991 and 30 June 1996. In 15 of the cases,
it was clearly identified that no smoke detectors
were present in the structure. In one of the fatal
fires, a smoke alarm was reported to be in the
structure at the time of the fire and it operated
correctly. However, the victim was hearing
impaired and did not hear the alarm.
FINDING
•
The majority of fatal fires were
categorised as being accidental/
preventable.
Cause of death
In Victoria, there was insufficient information to
determine the cause of death for 27 of the victims.
For four of the victims, the cause of death could
not be attributed solely to the fire. Of the remaining
100 cases, smoke inhalation was the major cause
of death for 65 fire death victims, with burns and
incineration accounting for the deaths of 35 victims
in the Victorian study.
FINDING
•
Where information was available,
smoke inhalation was the cause of
death for 65 per cent of the fire death
victims.
FINDING
•
The reporting of the presence of smoke
alarms was either not recorded or
undetermined for 88 per cent of fatal
fires.
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
In 47 (36 per cent) of the cases, the fire cause
was either not reported or undetermined. In the
remaining 84 cases, discarded smoking materials
(43 per cent) was the major cause of structural
fires where fatalities occurred. Fires involving
heating equipment accounted for 20 per cent of
the fires, particularly where combustibles were
put too close to the heating unit. Electrical faults
(10 per cent) and fires resulting from heat from
open flames such as lighters and candles (8 per
cent) were some of the other causes of fatal fires
in Victoria.
51
5.1 Overview
5.2 Time of fatal fires
Between 1 July 1991 and 30 June 1996, 31 fatalities
occurred in 28 structural fires in Western Australia.
During this period, both the number of fires and
the number of fire fatalities gradually increased
with a peak in the number of fire deaths in 1994/
95, primarily due to multiple death fires.
Time of death analysis
Table 5.1 shows the number of fire deaths that
occurred in structures between 1 July 1991 and
30 June 1996.
In 16 of these remaining cases, the time of death
was listed as occurring either before or coinciding
with the Fire Service alarm time. The remaining
Financial
Year
1991/92
1992/93
1993/94
1994/95
1995/96
Number of
victims
2
3
6
12
8
Deaths per
100,000
0.12
0.18
0.35
0.69
0.45
Figure 5.1 compares the Western Australian fire death rate per 100,000 people with the national average.
The fire death rate in Western Australia remained below the national average over the majority of the
research period.
Figure 5.1 - Western Australia fire deaths (Compared to National Trend)
0.8
0.69
0.7
0.6
0.63
0.55
0.66
0.57
0.6
0.5
0.45
0.4
0.35
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
52
As seven (23 per cent) of the cases either did not
have an alarm time listed or a time of death
recorded by the coroner, the time of death
analysis was based on the remaining 24 fatalities.
Table 5.1 - Western Australia fire deaths
Deaths per 100,000
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
5. WESTERN AUSTRALIA
0.18
Western Australia
Australia
0.12
1991/92
1992/93
1993/94
Financial years
1994/95
1995/96
6
6
5
4
4
2
0
3
2
2
2
2
2
Nov
Dec
0
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
eight of these victims had their time of death
listed as after alarm time. It was possible to
determine the level of involvement of the fires
in which four victims died. For three of the fire
death victims, the structures were 100 per cent
involved at the time of arrival of the Fire Service.
Therefore, taking into account the recorded level
of involvement of the fire and those victims who
were clearly identified as dying before or
coinciding with the alarm time, it is estimated
that 19 (79 per cent) of the fire victims who had
an alarm time listed and a time of death recorded
were dead before the Fire Service was called.
FINDINGS
•
The time of death of fire victims is not
always recorded.
•
Where information is available on time
of death, alarm time and the level of
involvement of the fire, it is possible
to estimate that the majority of fire
death victims died prior to, or
coinciding with, the Fire Service alarm
time.
•
2
1
Jun
Jul
Months
•
In the winter months of June, July and August, 13
(42 per cent) of the fire fatalities occurred. The
number of fire fatalities peaked in July when six
(19 per cent) of the fire victims died. Portable
local heating units and candles were the most
frequent causes of winter fires in Western
Australia.
Sep
Oct
The majority of fire deaths occurred
in April, June, July and August.
Time of day
No alarm time was available for the fires in which
three (10 per cent) fatalities occurred. In the 28
remaining cases, the times between 8.00am and
6.00pm and between midnight and 8.00am were
equally the most frequent times when fatal fires
occurred, with 11 fatalities occurring in each of
these time periods. Discarded cigarettes,
matches and lighters (45 per cent) were the most
common cause of fires between 8.00am and
6.00pm, with 18 per cent of the fires resulting
from portable heaters. The most frequently cited
cause for fires that occurred between midnight
and 8.00am was heat from open flames (36 per
cent) such as candles, tapers and lighters.
Figure 5.3 - Deaths time of day
Early detection of the presence of
smoke is critical to achieving a
reduction in preventable fire deaths.
Month of the year
Aug
FINDING
Number of victims
Number of victims
8
11
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0 00:00 to 08:00
11
6
08:00 to 18:00
Time of day
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
Figure 5.2 - Deaths per month (period 1991/92 to 1995/96)
18:00 to 00:00
53
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
54
FINDING
•
Birthplace and ethnicity of the victims
There was no peak period identified
during the day for fire deaths in
Western Australia.
5.3 Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of
the victims
Gender and age of the victims
In Western Australia, males accounted for 68 per
cent of the fire victims. The 65 and over age bracket
represented (48 per cent) of all fire death victims.
Particularly at risk within this age group are people
aged over 85 years with (19 per cent) dying in fires
during this period. Children aged between zero
and nine years (23 per cent) were also identified as
being particularly vulnerable to fires.
FINDING
•
People in the 65 and over age bracket
and children aged between zero and
nine years represented the majority
of fire death victims.
Australia was the most frequently cited birthplace
for 15 (48 per cent) of the fire death victims. Eight
(26 per cent) of the victims were born in the
United Kingdom. The remaining victims came
from New Zealand (six per cent), Vietnam (six per
cent), Poland, Germany and South Africa. The
ethnicity was not reported in 18 of the cases. Of
those cases where ethnicity was identified, six
victims were Caucasian, five victims were of
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander heritage and
two victims were Vietnamese.
FINDING
•
In Western Australia, 38 per cent of
the fire death victims were identified
as being of Aboriginal or Torres Strait
Islander heritage.
Occupation
In Western Australia the occupation was not listed
for one (three per cent) of the fire death victims.
Seven victims were either children or students at
the time of death. Of the remaining 23 victims,
16 were either retired, pensioners, unemployed
Table 5.2 - Age of fire death victims (male and female) - WA
Age groupings
(Years)
0-4
5-9
10 - 14
15 - 19
20 - 24
25 - 29
30 - 34
35 - 39
40 - 44
45 - 49
50 - 54
55 - 59
60 - 64
65 - 69
70 - 74
75 - 79
80 - 84
85+
Total no.
of victims
4
3
0
0
2
2
1
2
1
1
0
0
0
3
1
2
3
6
Percentage
Age group as a % of
WA population*
13%
10%
0%
0%
7%
7%
3%
7%
3%
3%
0%
0%
0%
10%
3%
7%
10%
19%
7%
8%
8%
7%
8%
8%
8%
8%
8%
7%
5%
4%
4%
3%
3%
2%
1%
1%
*Source: Average of ABS Estimated Resident Population June Quarter 1991 to 1996. The percentage totals may not add up to 100% due to
the rounding of individual age brackets.
where most of these fires originated. The
occupant of the ignition area was reported
in 86 per cent of the fires involving children
aged between zero and nine years. In three
cases, the occupants of the ignition area
were children under the age of 16 years. In
57 per cent of cases, the source of ignition
was reported. In all of these reported cases,
candles, matches and lighters were the
ignition factors that caused these fatal fires.
FINDING
•
The majority of fire death victims were
either retired, pensioners, unemployed or did home duties.
Based on the reported ignition factors and
the occupancy of the ignition area, it is
possible that a significant number of the fires
were caused by children who were involved
in child fire play.
‘At risk’ groups
The more vulnerable groups in Western Australia
are people aged over 65 years and children aged
between zero and nine years. Alcohol
contributed to 29 per cent of the fire deaths for
victims aged above the legal drinking age.
There were no smoke detectors reported in
any of these cases involving children aged
between zero and nine years.
The profiles for those groups most at risk from
fire deaths are listed below.
CHILDREN AGED BETWEEN
ZERO AND NINE YEARS WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Discussion
In Western Australia, seven (23 per cent) of
the fire fatalities were children aged between
zero and nine years. In 71 per cent of cases,
the victims were males. For those four cases
where ethnicity was reported, three of the
victims were from an Aboriginal or Torres
Strait Islander background, and one victim
was from a Vietnamese background. Smoke
inhalation was determined to be the cause
of death which accounted for five of the
deaths, with burns and/or incineration being
the cause of two of the deaths in this age
bracket.
The fire problem
No classification of the category of the fire
was available in Western Australia. The time
between 6.00pm and midnight was the time
when the majority (43 per cent) of these fires
occurred. The lounge area (43 per cent) and
the bedroom (29 per cent) were the areas
FINDING
•
Based on the available data, juvenile
fire lighting appears to be a significant
cause of fire fatalities in the age group
zero to nine years old.
ELDERLY 65 PLUS AGE BRACKET
- WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Discussion
In Western Australia, 48 per cent of the fire
fatalities were people aged 65 years and
over. Females (53 per cent) made up the
highest proportion of deaths within this age
category. The majority (67 per cent) of these
victims were not married, with their marital
status being listed as single, divorced or
widowed. In 93 per cent of the cases the
occupation was reported for the victims with
79 per cent of the victims being either retired
or involved in home duties. Only 21 per cent
of the victims were receiving the pension.
The complex type was identified in 93 per
cent of the cases. A large number (79 per
cent) of these victims were living in one to
two family dwellings, with the
accommodation type for 14 per cent of the
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
or did home duties. Skilled labour was listed as
the occupation for four of the victims, with three
of the victims being employed in unskilled
labour. No professional occupations were
identified in the Western Australia research.
55
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
victims being classified as suitable for group
living. Where the ethnicity of the victims
was reported 14 per cent were Indian,
seven per cent were German and seven
per cent were from an Aboriginal or Torres
Strait Islander background.
Smoke inhalation (73 per cent) was the most
frequently cited cause of death for these
victims, with 13 per cent dying from burns
and/or incineration.
The fire problem
The category of the fire was not able to be
determined from the Western Australian
data. The alarm time was reported in 93
per cent of the fires, with 43 per cent of
the fires occuring between 8.00am and
6.00pm. The hours between midnight and
8.00am also recorded 43 per cent of these
fatal fires in Western Australia. In seven
per cent of the cases the area of the fire
origin was not reported. For the remaining
cases, the lounge (43 per cent) and the
bedroom (43 per cent) were the most
common areas where these fires occurred.
Where reported the most frequent causes
of fires were heaters, candles and discarded
cigarettes. Smoke detectors were not
present in any of the structures where
these fires originated. However, fire
extinguishers were located in a boarding
house fire where two elderly people lost
their lives.
ALCOHOL-RELATED FIRE
DEATHS - WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Discussion
In Western Australia, seven of the fire death
victims aged 18 years and over were
recorded as being under the effects of
alcohol. All of the victims were male. The
marital status for 57 per cent of the victims
was listed as either being single, widowed
or divorced, with the remaining 43 per cent
being married. Age does not appear to be
a significant factor in alcohol-related deaths.
In one case, the type of dwelling was not
reported. However, where it was reported,
the majority of these fire fatalities occurred
in residential dwellings, such as one to two
family dwellings and apartments. The
country of birth for these alcohol-related fire
victims was recorded as New Zealand (28.5
per cent), Scotland (28.5 per cent), Vietnam
(28.5 per cent) and Australia (14.5 per cent).
Most of these victims were employed in
skilled labour and trades (71 per cent), with
the remainder being employed in unskilled
occupations.
All of the victims had blood alcohol readings
greater than the legal drink driving limit of
50mg/100ml. Smoke inhalation was the cause
of death for all of the seven alcohol-related
fire death victims in Western Australia.
The fire problem
No classification as to the category of fires was
available for Western Australia. The alarm time
was not reported in 14 per cent of these fatal
fires. However, where reported, the time
between midnight and 8.00am was the most
frequent for fire fatalities. Lounge rooms and
kitchens were the areas where a number of
these fires originated. A number of causes
were cited for these fires including cigarettes,
candles, portable heaters, heat from hot
objects and incendiary devices, such as a
Molotov cocktail.
No smoke detectors were reported to be
present in any of the alcohol-related fatal
fires.
56
5.5 Major causes of fatal fires
The type of property where the fire occurred for
three (10 per cent) of the fire victims was not
reported. For the remaining 28 victims where
the property type was reported, 26 of the fire
fatalities occurred in residential dwellings, which
consisted of one to two family dwellings (85 per
cent), apartments (7.5 per cent) and group living
accommodation (7.5 per cent).
Category of fire
For 16 (52 per cent) of the fire death victims, the
status of the property was not reported. Of the
remaining 15 fire death victims, eight of the
victims died in rental properties. Two of these
rental properties were owned by the Western
Australia State Government. Those properties,
which were not rental properties, were all
classified as being privately owned, owner
occupier dwellings.
Figure 5.4 shows the breakdown of property status
where fire victims died in Western Australia.
Figure 5.4 - Property Status
Fire Fatalities 1991/92 to 1995/96
Owner occupied (7)
There were no classifications available regarding
the categories of fires in Western Australia.
FINDING
•
There is insufficient information
available on the category of fire.
Cause of fire
There were several causes of fatal fires in Western
Australia during the period of the study including
heat from open flames (candles, matches and
lighters), discarded cigarettes, portable heaters and
accidents involving heat from properly operating
equipment.
Cause of death
In Western Australia, smoke inhalation (83 per
cent) was the most common cause of death due
to fire. Burns and/or incineration was the cause
of death for 17 per cent of the victims.
5.6 Smoke alarms
Unknown (16)
Rentals (8)
FINDING
•
Information relating to the status of the
properties where fire deaths occurred
is not recorded for a majority of victims.
There was no presence of smoke alarms in any of
the fatal fires that occurred in Western Australia
between 1 July 1991 and 30 June 1996. However,
fire extinguishers were installed in one of the
properties which was used for group living
purposes, such as a rooming, boarding or lodging
house.
FINDING
•
Smoke alarms were not recorded as
present in any of the fatal fires that
occurred in Western Australia during
the research period.
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
5.4 Property type and ownership
57
6.1 Overview
6.2 Time of fatal fires
Between 1 July 1991 and 30 June 1996, there were
16 fire fatalities resulting from 15 structural fires in
South Australia. Table 6.1 highlights the number
of fire fatalities that occurred in South Australia
during the research period.
Time of death analysis
In the South Australian data, a time of death was
assigned for only one of the victims. This occurred
because the victim was transported to hospital
after being injured in the fire. As the victim
subsequently died in hospital, a doctor was able
to assign an exact time of death for the victim.
However, as no times of death were available for
the remaining victims, no time of death analysis
was performed on the South Australian cases.
Table 6.1 - South Australia fire deaths
Financial
Year
1991/92
1992/93
1993/94
1994/95
1995/96
Number of
victims
0
4
5
6
1
Deaths per
100,000
0
0.27
0.34
0.41
0.07
As indicated in Figure 6.1, the fire death rate in South Australia is consistently lower than the Australian fire
death rate (per 100,000 people) for the research period.
Figure 6.1 - South Australia fire deaths (Compared to national trend)
0.8
0.7
0.6
Deaths per 100,000
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
6. SOUTH AUSTRALIA
0.66
0.63
0.55
0.6
0.57
0.5
0.41
0.4
0.34
0.27
0.3
0.2
South Australia
Australia
0.1
0
58
0
1991/92
1992/93
1993/94
Financial years
1994/95
0.07
1995/96
Number of victims
4
4
3
2
2
1
1
0
Jan
1
Feb
0
0
Mar
Apr
2
1
1
0
May
FINDING
•
2
2
The times of death for the majority of
fire death victims were not recorded.
Jun
Jul
Months
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
6.3 Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of
the victims
Month of the year
Gender and age of the victims
In South Australia, 69 per cent of fire fatalities
occurred in the second half of the year, with
November recording the highest number (25 per
cent) of fire deaths for a single month. Due to
incomplete fire incident data, no significant
findings can be made as to the cause of these
fatal fires.
In South Australia, the majority of fire death victims
were male (56 per cent). Eight of the fire death
victims were 25 to 39 years of age. Five of the
South Australian fire fatalities were determined
to be suicide-related fire deaths. The South
Australian data is skewed due to the number of
suicide-related fire deaths occurring during this
period.
Time of day
FINDING
•
The fatal fires occurred equally
between the hours of midnight and
8.00am and 8.00 am and 6.00 pm.
Figure 6.3 - Deaths time of day
Number of victims
An alarm time for the Fire Brigade was not reported
for fires in which two (13 per cent) of the South
Australian victims died. For the remaining 14
fatalities where a Fire Service alarm time was
reported, the hours between midnight and 8.00
am and 8.00 am and 6.00 pm were equally the
most frequent time when six of the fire fatalities
occurred.
11
10
9
8
7
6
6
5
4
3
2
1
0 00:00 to 08:00
6
2
08:00 to 18:00
Time of day
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
Figure 6.2 - Deaths per month (period 1991/92 to 1995/96)
18:00 to 00:00
59
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
Table 6.2 sets out the percentage breakdown of fire fatality victims by age group in South Australia.
Table 6.2 - Age of fire death victims (male and female) - SA
Age groupings
(Years)
0-4
5-9
10 - 14
15 - 19
20 - 24
25 - 29
30 - 34
35 - 39
40 - 44
45 - 49
50 - 54
55 - 59
60 - 64
65 - 69
70 - 74
75 - 79
80 - 84
85+
1
0
1
1
0
3
3
2
0
2
1
0
1
0
0
1
0
0
Percentage
Age group as a % of
South Australia population*
6%
0%
6%
6%
0%
19%
19%
12%
0%
12%
6%
0%
6%
0%
0%
6%
0%
0%
7%
7%
7%
7%
8%
8%
8%
8%
7%
7%
5%
4%
4%
4%
4%
3%
2%
1%
*Source: Average of ABS Estimated Resident Population June Quarter 1991 to 1996. The percentage totals may not add up to 100% due to
the rounding of individual age brackets.
FINDING
•
The majority of fire death victims were
male and between 25 to 39 years of
age.
Birthplace and ethnicity of the victims
There was no country of birth identified for six
(38 per cent) of the fire death victims. In the
remaining 10 cases, Australia was the most
frequently cited birthplace for nine of the South
Australian fire death victims. Vietnam was
identified as the birthplace for the remaining
victim. Two of the fire victims were positively
identified as coming from an Aboriginal or Torres
Strait Islander background.
FINDING
•
60
Total no.
of victims
Birthplace was not recorded for 38
per cent of the fire death victims.
Where information was available,
Australia was recorded as the
birthplace for the majority of these
fire death victims.
Occupations of the victims
Two victims were either children or students. In
South Australia, nine of the victims had their
occupations listed as being home duties,
pensioners or unemployed. This finding suggests
that a large proportion of these victims would
spend a considerable amount of their time in
their own homes. The occupations for the
remaining five victims consisted of two victims
employed in skilled labour and/or trades, two
victims involved in tertiary studies, and one victim
employed in the teaching profession.
FINDING
•
The majority of fire death victims had
their occupations listed as being home
duties, pensioners or unemployed.
Alcohol-related fire deaths and suicide-related fire
deaths represent the two ‘at risk’ groups in the
South Australian community.
Listed below is a profile for each of these groups
highlighting the demographic characteristics and
fire problem unique to each group.
ALCOHOL-RELATED FIRE
DEATHS - SOUTH AUSTRALIA
midnight and 8.00 am was the most
frequent time recorded when four of the
victims died. The area of fire origin was
determined for five of the incidents
involving fatalities. These fatal fires occurred
in sleeping areas and lounge rooms. The
cause of the fires was reported in four (57
per cent) of the cases. Discarded smoking
materials (75 per cent) was the major cause
of fatal fires involving alcohol.
There was no information received on the
presence or absence of smoke alarms in
South Australia.
Discussion
Alcohol consumption contributed to the
deaths of seven (54 per cent) of the South
Australian victims aged 18 years and over.
The majority (86 per cent) of these victims
were male. The ages of the victims ranged
between 26 and 79 years. It was not
possible to determine the marital status for
five of the victims. One of the remaining
victims was married, with the other victim
being a widower. Five of the victims were
born in Australia and the other in Vietnam.
The ethnicity was reported for three (43 per
cent) of the victims. Two of the victims were
from either an Aboriginal or Torres Strait
Islander heritage and the other victim was
Vietnamese. Four (57 per cent) of the victims
were either pensioners, students or
unemployed. One of the remaining victims
was employed in skilled labour/trades with
the other working in a professional
occupation. All of the victims of alcoholrelated fires died from smoke inhalation.
The fire problem
For two (29 per cent) of the fire victims, there
was no classification available as to the
category of the fire. However, for the
remaining five victims, all the fires were
classified as being accidental/preventable.
An alarm time was recorded for the fires in
which six victims died. The hours between
SUICIDE-RELATED FIRE DEATHS
- SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Discussion
In South Australia, five of the fire-related
deaths were recorded as self-inflicted. These
deaths occurred in five separate fire
incidents. The majority (60 per cent) of the
victims were male. It was not possible to
determine the marital status for any of these
fire victims. The birthplace was not available
for four of the victims. The remaining victim
was Australian. Two of the victims worked
in skilled labour/trades. One of the victims
was unemployed and the other was
receiving a pension. Smoke inhalation was
the major cause of death for three of the
victims. The remaining two victims
committed suicide.
The fire problem
All the fires that occurred in this group were
classified as deliberate. The majority (60
per cent) of these fire deaths occurred
between 8.00 am and 6.00 pm.
No information was received on the
presence or absence of smoke alarms in
South Australia.
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
‘At risk’ groups
61
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
62
6.4 Property type and ownership
No complex type or property ownership data was
available for South Australia.
FINDING
•
FINDINGS
•
The cause of the fire was
undetermined for 31 per cent of fire
death victims.
•
Discarded smoking materials was the
major cause of accidental fires.
Information relating to the status of
property ownership was not available.
Cause of death
6.5 Major causes of fatal fires
Category of fire
In three of the cases, there was no fire category
identified. For the remaining 13 cases where a
fire category was given, eight of the fatalities
occurred in fires that were classified as being
accidental/preventable. However, five of the South
Australian fires were deliberately lit with the
intention to harm either themselves (through
suicide) or others (arson attempts).
FINDING
•
While the categor y of fire was
undetermined for three of the fire
death victims, where information was
available, a majority of the fatal fires
were accidental/preventable.
Cause of fire
The fire cause was indicated for 11 of the South
Australian cases. In the accidental/preventable
category of fire, discarded smoking materials (i.e.
smoking in bed or falling asleep while smoking)
was identified as the major cause of accidental
fires. Child fire play, the incorrect use of a bar
heater and an accident using electrical equipment
were the other known causes in the accidental/
preventable fire category.
In South Australia, smoke inhalation accounted for
the deaths of nine victims whose deaths could be
attributed to fire. Burns and incineration was the
cause of death for two of the fire death victims.
These two victims were present in the area of fire
origin at the time of ignition. Both had reduced
mobility (due to age or disability) and this affected
their ability to rapidly respond to or escape from
the fire situation.
FINDING
•
Smoke inhalation was the cause of
death for a majority of fire death
victims.
6.6 Smoke alarms
No information was available in the South
Australian data to determine the presence of
smoke alarms in the structures where these fatal
fires occurred.
FINDING
•
There was no information available on
the presence of smoke alarms in the
structures where fatal fires occurred.
7.1 Overview
7.2 Time of fatal fires
In Tasmania, there were 22 structural fires
resulting in 23 deaths throughout the research
period of 1 July 1991 to 30 June 1996. The trend
has remained relatively constant over the past
five years, though the number of fire deaths in
Tasmania has increased slightly each financial
year. Figure 7.1 illustrates the number of
Tasmanian fire fatalities over the past five years.
Time of death analysis
It was not possible to perform a time of death
analysis for 15 (65 per cent) of the fire fatalities in
Tasmania as either a time of death for the victims
or the alarm time was not recorded in the data.
In the remaining eight cases, three of the fire death
victims died prior to the Fire Service alarm time.
For the cases where the time of death was
recorded as being after alarm time, in three of
the fires the structures were described by
witnesses at the scene as being fully involved at
the time of arrival of the Fire Service. In the other
two cases, the state of the fire was minimal, with
only one room involved at the time of arrival of
the Fire Service.
However, as highlighted in Table 7.1, the
Tasmanian fire death rate per 100,000 people is
higher than the national fire death rate for each
of the financial years reported for this study.
Table 7.1 - Tasmania fire deaths
Financial
Year
1991/92
1992/93
1993/94
1994/95
1995/96
Number of
victims
3
4
5
5
6
Deaths per
100,000
0.64
0.85
1.06
1.06
1.27
Figure 7.1 - Tasmania fire deaths (compared to national trend)
1.8
1.6
Tasmania
Australia
Deaths per 100,000
1.4
1.27
1.2
1.06
1.0
0.8
0.6
1.06
0.85
0.64
0.55
0.57
0.63
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
7. TASMANIA
0.66
0.6
0.4
0.2
1991/92
1992/93
1993/94
Financial years
1994/95
1995/96
63
•
FINDINGS
The time of death and the alarm time
was not recorded for a majority of fire
death victims.
•
Where information is available on time
of death, alarm time and the level of
involvement of the fire, it is possible
to predict that the majority of fire death
victims died prior to or coinciding with
the Fire Service alarm time.
•
•
A fire service alarm time was not
recorded for 17 per cent of fire death
victims.
•
Where information was recorded, the
hours between midnight and 8.00am
was the time period when nine of
the fire death victims died.
Early detection of the presence of
smoke is critical in achieving a
reduction in preventable fire deaths.
Figure 7.3 - Deaths time of day
Month of the year
Number of victims
In Tasmania, 39 per cent of the fire fatalities
occurred during winter. These fires were mainly
caused from having combustibles too close to
heaters and from faulty electric blanket switches.
July was the single month when most (22 per
cent) of the fire fatalities occurred.
FINDING
•
39 per cent of fire death victims died
during winter.
11
10
9
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0 00:00 to 08:00
6
4
08:00 to 18:00
Time of day
18:00 to 00:00
Figure 7.2 - Death per month (period 1991/92 to 1995/96)
8
Number of victims
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
A Fire Service alarm time was not reported for fires
in which four of the victims died. In the remaining
19 fires where an alarm time was reported, nine
fatalities occurred between midnight and 8.00 am.
FINDINGS
6
5
4
2
0
64
Time of day
Therefore, based on the above findings where the
victim’s time of death and the Fire Service alarm
time was recorded, it is estimated that six of the
fire victims died prior to the Fire Service alarm time.
3
3
3
2
1
1
Feb
2
Oct
Nov
0
0
Jan
2
1
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Months
Aug
Sep
Dec
Gender and age of the victims
In five (22 per cent) of the Tasmanian cases, there
was no gender recorded for the fire fatality
victims. When analysing the remaining 18 cases,
it was found that the majority (67 per cent) of
Tasmanian fire death victims were male. In 18 of
the fire fatalities, the age of the fire victims was
known. The majority (61 per cent) of the fire
victims were in the 65 years and older age
bracket.
FINDINGS
•
The gender and age of fire death
victims was not always recorded.
•
Where data was available, it was
established that 67 per cent of fire
death victims were male and people
aged 65 years and older (61 per cent).
Birthplace and ethnicity of the victims
The birthplace for six (26 per cent) of the victims
was not stated. In the remaining 17 cases, 15 of
the victims were born in Australia and the other
two were from England and Korea. No victims
were identified as coming from an Aboriginal or
Torres Strait Islander heritage.
FINDINGS
•
•
Birthplace was not recorded for 26
per cent of fire death victims.
Where data was available, the majority
of fire death victims were born in
Australia.
Occupations of the victims
In Tasmania, the occupations for six (26 per cent)
of the fire death victims were not known, with
an additional victim identified as being a child
under 18 years of age. The following analysis is
based on the remaining 16 victims. Eleven of
the victims were either pensioners, retired or
unemployed. Three victims were employed in
skilled labour/trades and two victims were
working in unskilled fields at the times of their
deaths.
Table 7.2 - Age of fire death victims (male and female) - Tasmania
Age groupings
(Years)
0-4
5-9
10 - 14
15 - 19
20 - 24
25 - 29
30 - 34
35 - 39
40 - 44
45 - 49
50 - 54
55 - 59
60 - 64
65 - 69
70 - 74
75 - 79
80 - 84
85+
Unknown
Total no.
of victims
1
0
0
0
2
0
0
1
1
1
0
0
1
2
1
3
4
1
5
Percentage
Age group as a % of
Tasmanian population*
4%
0%
0%
0%
9%
0%
0%
4%
4%
4%
0%
0%
4%
9%
4%
13%
17%
4%
22%
7%
8%
8%
8%
7%
7%
8%
8%
7%
6%
5%
4%
4%
4%
3%
2%
2%
1%
N/A
*Source: Average of ABS Estimated Resident Population June Quarter 1991 to 1996. The percentage totals may not add up to 100% due to
the rounding of individual age brackets.
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
7.3 Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of
the victims
65
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
FINDINGS
•
The occupations of 26 per cent of
fire death victims were not recorded.
•
Where data was available, the
majority of fire death victims were
recorded as pensioners, retired or
unemployed.
fire fatalities where the time of the fire was
reported, the hours between midnight and
8.00 am was the most frequent time period
(40 per cent) during which fatal fires occurred.
The area of the fire origin was reported in 10
cases, with five fatalities occurring in the
bedroom area. Accidents involving heaters
(eg. warming/drying clothes too close to the
heater) were the most commonly occurring
sources of these fatal fires.
‘At risk’ groups
Smoke detectors were not reported to be
present in any of the structures where these
fires involving elderly people occurred.
In Tasmania, people aged 65 years and over were
more vulnerable to fire death. The following profile
details the characteristics and fire problem specific
to this group. The profile of this group is
consistent with the findings in other States.
ELDERLY 65 PLUS AGE BRACKET
- TASMANIA
FINDING
•
In common with other States, the
elderly are more at risk of fire death,
particularly with respect to fires caused
by improper use of heating appliances.
Discussion
In Tasmania, the 65 years and over age bracket
made up 61 per cent of victims who died in
structural fires between 1 July 1991 and 30
June 1996. The majority (55 per cent) of these
victims were male. Most of the victims (82
per cent) were either single, widowed or
divorced with only two of the victims being
married. In the 10 cases where the
occupation of the victims was listed, eight of
the victims had their occupations listed as being
either pensioners or retired. Where the type
of dwelling was identified in nine of the cases,
seven of the fatalities occurred in one to two
family dwellings with the other two fatalities
occurring in apartment buildings. There were
no victims identifying with an Aboriginal or
Torres Strait Islander heritage.
In three cases, the cause of death for the
victims was unknown or listed as being
unrelated to the fire (eg. suicide). In the
remaining eight cases, all the victims died as
a result of smoke inhalation.
7.4 Property type and ownership
Property type classification was unable to be
determined for five (22 per cent) of the Tasmanian
fires that involved fatalities. Of the remaining 18
cases, residential properties were the most
frequently cited property type where 17 of the
fire fatalities occurred. In the residential property
classification, the majority were one to two family
dwellings (75 per cent) with the remainder being
apartment buildings (25 per cent).
The property ownership was able to be analysed
for 18 (78 per cent) of the homes of the fire fatality
victims. Eleven of the fire death victims died in
fires that occurred in properties that were classified
as being privately owned and occupied by the
owner.
Figure 7.4 - Property Status
Fire Fatalities 1991/92 to 1995/96
Unknown (5)
The fire problem
66
In five (45 per cent) of the fire fatalities
involving elderly people, a category for the
fire was not able to be determined.
However, in the remaining six cases, all the
fatal fires were reported to be in the
accidental/preventable category. For the 10
Rentals (7)
Owner occupied (11)
•
The majority of fatal fires occurred in
owner occupied residential one to
two family dwellings.
7.5 Major causes of fatal fires
Category of fire
There was insufficient information available to
determine the category of fires in which 10 fire
death victims died. In the remaining 13 cases, 11
of the fires were classified as being accidental/
preventable. From the research, it was
determined that two of the Tasmanian fires were
lit deliberately.
FINDING
•
Where information was available, it
was established that the majority of
fatal fires were classified as accidental/
preventable.
Cause of the fire
In 10 (43 per cent) cases, the source of the ignition
of the fire was undetermined or not reported.
In the 13 remaining cases, six of the fatalities
occurred in fires involving accidents with heaters
and open fireplaces. Discarded smoking
materials (i.e. smoking in bed and throwing
lighted matches) were also reported to be some
of the causes of the Tasmanian fatal fires.
FINDING
•
Where information was available, it
was established that heaters and
open fireplaces was the most
frequent cause of fire.
FINDING
•
The majority of fire death victims died
of smoke inhalation.
7.6 Smoke alarms
In one of the Tasmanian fatal fires that occurred
between 1 July 1991 and 30 June 1996, a smoke
alarm was reported to be in a room other than the
room of fire origin and it worked at the time of
the fire.
FINDING
•
There was one smoke alarm present
(and functioning) in the fatal
structure fire. However, it was located
in another room.
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
FINDING
Cause of death
No cause of death was listed for five (22 per cent)
of the fire victims. Smoke inhalation was the
cause of death for 13 of the victims who died
due to the effects of fire.
67
8.1 Overview
8.2 Time of fatal fires
In the Australian Capital Territory, nine fire fatalities
occurred in six structural fires between 1 July 1991
and 30 June 1996. There was a rise in the number
of fire deaths in the 1994/95 financial year due to
the two fires which caused the death of five
people. Table 8.1 highlights the number of fire
deaths over the period of the study.
Time of death analysis
A comparison between the Australian Capital
Territory fire death rate per 100,000 people and
the national fire death rate revealed that the fire
death rate peaked in the 1994/95 financial year
and decreased to mirror the national fire death
rate in the 1995/96 financial year.
For the remaining seven victims whose time of
death was recorded as being after the Fire Service
alarm time, the fire scene on arrival of the Fire
Brigade was described by witnesses as being
heavily smoked in the fires where five victims died,
and well alight or fully involved for the fires in which
Financial
Year
1991/92
1992/93
1993/94
1994/95
1995/96
Number of
victims
0
0
2
5
2
Deaths per
100,000
0
0
0.66
1.64
0.65
Figure 8.1 - ACT fire deaths (Compared to National Trend)
2
ACT
Australia
1.64
1.5
1
0.66
0.5
0
68
There was a time of death listed by the coroner
for all the fire fatality victims in the Australian Capital
Territory. The time of death for two of the victims
was listed as occurring before the alarm time of
the Fire Service.
Table 8.1 - ACT fire deaths
Deaths per 100,000
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
8. AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL
TERRITORY
0.55
0.57
0
0
1991/92
0.66
0.63
1992/93
1993/94
Financial years
0.65
0.6
1994/95
1995/96
3
3
2
2
1
1
0
1
0
Jan
Feb
Mar
1
0
0
Apr
May
the other two victims perished. Therefore, by
taking into account the level of involvement of the
fire at the time of arrival of the Fire Service for
those victims who were presumed to have died
after the alarm time together with those victims
clearly identified as dying prior to alarm, it is
possible that all of the fire death victims were
dead before or at the time the Fire Service was
called.
FINDINGS
•
A time of death was assigned by the
coroner for all fire death victims.
•
On the basis of information on the time
of death, the alarm time and the level
of involvement of the fire, it is possible
that all the fire death victims died
either prior to or at the time the Fire
Brigade was called.
Month of the year
In the Australian Capital Territory, five of the fire
fatalities occurred in winter. No single cause was
identified for the fatal fires during this period.
Malfunctioning heating equipment, discarded
smoking materials and a deliberately lit fire were
the identified causes for these winter fires.
FINDING
•
0
1
0
0
Jun
Jul
Months
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Time of day
The majority (44 per cent) of fatal fires occurred
between midnight and 8.00 am, with the time
between 8.00 am and 6.00 pm being the next
(33 per cent) most frequently recorded time for
fatal structure fires.
FINDING
•
A majority of fire deaths occurred
between the hours of midnight and
8.00am.
Figure 8.3 - Deaths time of day
Number of victims
Number of victims
4
5.5
5
4.5
4
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0 00:00 to 08:00
3
2
08:00 to 18:00
Time of day
18:00 to 00:00
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
Figure 8.2 - Death per month (period 1991/92 to 1995/96)
A majority of fire deaths occurred in
the winter months of July and August.
69
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
70
8.3 Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of
the victims
Gender and age of the victims
The majority (67 per cent) of the fire death victims
in the Australian Capital Territory were male.
Children aged between zero and nine years
represented 44 per cent of the fire death victims,
an over-representation of 30 per cent when
compared to the estimated resident population
for that age bracket. Victims aged between 35
and 49 years also made up 44 per cent of the fire
fatalities during the research period.
Table 8.2 sets out the percentage breakdown for
the age groupings for fire death victims in the
Australian Capital Territory.
FINDING
•
A majority of fire death victims were
male and aged between either zero
and nine years or 35 and 49 years.
Birthplace and ethnicity of the victims
Australia was the most frequently cited birthplace
for five (56 per cent) of the fire death victims,
with the remaining victims being born in Spain,
Mauritius, India and the United Kingdom. In
seven (78 per cent) of the cases, the ethnicity of
the victims was not reported. The remaining two
victims were from Spanish and Indian origins.
FINDING
•
Where information was available, it
was established that Australia was the
most common birthplace.
Occupations of the victims
In the Australian Capital Territory, 44 per cent of
the fire death victims were children and/or
students. The occupations were listed for four
of the five remaining victims who were not listed
as being children and/or students. Two of the
victims were employed in skilled labour/trades with
one victim being unemployed. Home duties was
listed as the occupation for the remaining fire death
victim. No professional occupations were identified
in the Australian Capital Territory research.
Table 8.2 - Age of fire death victims (male and female) - ACT
Age groupings
(Years)
0-4
5-9
10 - 14
15 - 19
20 - 24
25 - 29
30 - 34
35 - 39
40 - 44
45 - 49
50 - 54
55 - 59
60 - 64
65 - 69
70 - 74
75 - 79
80 - 84
85+
Total no.
of victims
3
1
0
0
1
0
0
1
2
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Percentage
Age group as a % of
ACT population*
33%
11%
0%
0%
11%
0%
0%
11%
22%
11%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
7%
7%
7%
8%
10%
9%
9%
8%
8%
7%
5%
4%
3%
2%
2%
1%
0.7%
0.5%
*Source: Average of ABS Estimated Resident Population June Quarter 1991 to 1996. The percentage totals may not add up to 100% due to
the rounding of individual age brackets.
•
A significant number of fire death
victims’ occupations were recorded
as children or students.
‘At risk’ groups
In the Australian Capital Territory, children aged
between zero and nine years were more
vulnerable to the risk of fire death. The following
profile details the characteristics and fire problem
specific to this group.
CHILDREN AGED BETWEEN
ZERO AND NINE YEARS AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL
TERRITORY
Discussion
In the Australian Capital Territory, four of the
fire fatality victims were children aged
between zero and nine years. All of these
victims were male. Australia was reported
to be the birthplace of all three of the victims
in this age category. Smoke inhalation was
the cause of death for all (100 per cent) of
the children aged between zero and nine
years.
The fire problem
All the fires were categorised as accidental/
preventable. Malfunctioning heating
equipment (75 per cent) and a discarded
cigarette (25 per cent) were the causes of
these fires. Three of the fatalities occurred
between midnight and 8.00 am. In all the
cases, the victims were asleep at the time
of the ignition of the fire.
No smoke detectors were present in any of
the structures where these fires occurred.
8.4 Property type and ownership
Fatal fires occurred primarily in residential
dwellings (89 per cent) with one fire occurring in
an office complex. One to two family dwellings
(78 per cent) was the most common type of
structure where these residential fatal fires
occurred.
In 78 per cent of the fires that occurred in the
Australian Capital Territory, it was not possible to
determine the property ownership status.
However, the remaining two cases were rental
properties, with one property being owned by
the State Government and the other a private
rental.
FINDINGS
•
The majority of fatal fires occurred in
one to two family dwellings.
•
It was not possible to establish the
ownership status of 78 per cent of
the dwellings involved in fatal fires.
8.5 Major causes of fatal fires
Category of fire
Between 1 July 1991 and 30 June 1996, the fires
that caused five (56 per cent) of the fatalities in
the Australian Capital Territory were classified as
being accidental/preventable. The remaining
four (44 per cent) victims died in fires that were
categorised as being deliberately lit with the
intention to cause harm.
FINDING
•
The majority of fatal fires were
categorised as accidental/preventable.
Cause of fire
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
FINDING
For those five fires that were categorised as
accidental/preventable, malfunctioning heating
equipment (75 per cent) and discarded smoking
materials (25 per cent) were the causes of the
fires.
71
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
72
FINDING
•
The most common cause of fatal fires
was
malfunctioning
heating
equipment.
Cause of death
For those five victims whose cause of death was
accidental/preventable, smoke inhalation was the
prime cause of death.
FINDING
•
Smoke inhalation was the most
common cause of death in accidental/
preventable fires.
8.6 Smoke alarms
For four (44 per cent) of the fire death victims, it
was not determined if smoke alarms were
present at the time of the fire. However, in the
remaining five cases, it was positively identified
that no smoke alarms were in the structure when
the fire occurred.
FINDING
•
Where information was available, it
was established that no smoke
alarms were present in the structures.
9.1 Overview
9.2 Time of fatal fires
In the Northern Territory, between 1 July 1991 and
30 June 1996, five fatalities were recorded resulting
from four fires. No significant trend can be
established due to the small number of fire
fatalities over the period of the research. Table
9.1 highlights the number of fire fatalities that
have occurred in structures in the Northern
Territory between 1 July 1991 and 30 June 1996.
Time of death analysis
FINDING
•
The fire death rate in the Northern
Territor y peaked in the 1992/93
financial year.
In the Northern Territory, no time of death was
listed on the coroner’s records, making it
impossible to determine if the victims died before
or after the Fire Service alarm time. However, the
level of involvement of the structures at the time
of the arrival of the Fire Service exceeded 60 per
cent in all of the fires.
FINDING
•
There was no record of a time of
death for any of the fire death
victims.
Table 9.1 - Northern Territory fire deaths
Financial
Year
1991/92
1992/93
1993/94
1994/95
1995/96
Number of
victims
0
4
1
0
0
Deaths per
100,000
0
2.36
0.85
0
0
Figure 9.1 compares the Northern Territory fire death rate per 100,000 people with the national fire
death rate over the past five years. As highlighted in the figure, a peak occurred in the fire death rate
in the 1992/93 financial year.
Figure 9.1 - Northern Territory fire deaths (compared to national trend)
Deaths per 100,000
3
2.5
2.36
Northern Territory
Australia
2
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
9. NORTHERN TERRITORY
1.5
0.85
1
0.5
0
0.55
0.66
0.57
0.6
0.63
0
0
1991/92
1992/93
1993/94
Financial years
1994/95
0
1995/96
73
2
Number of victims
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
Figure 9.2 - Deaths per month (period 1991/92 to 1995/96)
2
2
1.5
1
1
0.5
0
0
0
Jan
Feb
0
Mar
0
Apr
May
0
Jun
Jul
Months
Aug
0
0
0
0
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Month of the year
Time of day
An insufficient number of fire fatalities occurred
in the Northern Territory to establish trends for
the months of occurrence. An accident involving
a cigarette lighter was determined as the cause
of the fire in May, and water caused an electrical
short circuit in the August fire.
Most of the fire fatalities in the Northern Territory
occurred throughout the day and not specifically
during the night and early morning periods which
are the times of most risk in other States.
Table 9.2 - Age of fire death victims (male and female) - Northern Territory
Age groupings
(Years)
0-4
5-9
10 - 14
15 - 19
20 - 24
25 - 29
30 - 34
35 - 39
40 - 44
45 - 49
50 - 54
55 - 59
60 - 64
65 - 69
70 - 74
75 - 79
80 - 84
85+
Total no.
of victims
1
0
0
0
2
0
0
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Percentage
Age group as a % of
Northern Territory population*
20%
0%
0%
0%
40%
0%
0%
20%
0%
20%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
10%
9%
8%
8%
9%
9%
9%
8%
8%
8%
6%
4%
3%
3%
1%
0.5%
0.2%
0.1%
*Source: Average of ABS Estimated Resident Population June Quarter 1991 to 1996. The percentage totals may not add up to 100% due to
the rounding of individual age brackets.
74
All of these victims had blood alcohol levels
over 200mg/100ml, which is far higher than
the legal driving limit of 50mg/100ml. Smoke
inhalation was the sole cause of death for all
of these victims.
Gender and age of the victims
In the Northern Territory, four of the victims were
male, with the majority (80 per cent) being aged
between 20 and 49 years. Table 9.2 shows the
percentage breakdown of fire victims in the
Northern Territory.
The fire problem
All of the fires were categorised as accidental/
preventable. The lounge room and kitchen
were the two areas where these fires occurred.
Unattended food items on a stove and a
discarded cigarette were the causes of these
fatal fires. All these fires occurred in privately
owned rental properties.
FINDING
•
The majority of fire death victims were
male and aged between 20 and 49
years.
There were no smoke detectors reported in
any of the premises.
Birthplace and ethnicity of the victims
All of the victims were born in Australia, with three
of the victims having an Aboriginal or Torres Strait
Islander heritage.
Occupations of the victims
Insufficient information was available to categorise
the occupations or labour force status of the victims.
‘At risk’ groups
Alcohol was a common factor in three of the fire
fatalities in the Northern Territory. The following
profile describes the nature of the fire problem
associated with alcohol-related fire deaths.
ALCOHOL-RELATED FIRE
DEATHS - NORTHERN
TERRITORY
Discussion
In the Northern Territory, three of the fire
deaths were alcohol-related. The victims
were aged between 20 and 50 years, with
two of the victims being male. The two
victims who died in the one fire were
married, with the marital status of the other
9.4 Property type and ownership
All the fatal fires that occurred in the Northern
Territory in the research period occurred in
residential properties. Three of the fire fatalities
occurred in one to two family dwelling complexes,
with the other two fatalities occurring in an
apartment building. The properties were all
identified as being privately owned rental
properties.
FINDING
•
Most of the fatal fires occurred in one
to two family dwellings. All the fires
occurred in privately owned rental
properties.
9.5 Major causes of fatal fires
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
victim unknown. Two of the victims were
identified as being from an Aboriginal or
Torres Strait Islander back ground. No
occupations were available for these victims.
9.3 Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of
the victims
Category of fire
All the fatal fires that occurred in the Northern
Territory were classified as being accidental/
preventable.
75
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
76
Cause of fire
Discarded smoking materials, unattended food
items in the kitchen and child fire play were the
causes of these fatal fires.
Cause of death
Smoke inhalation was the most common cause
of death for four of the fire victims, with only one
victim dying from burns and incineration.
9.6 Smoke alarms
It was positively identified that smoke alarms were
not present in the structures where four of the fire
fatalities occurred in the Northern Territory.
FINDING
•
Where information was available, it
was determined there were no smoke
alarms present in the structures at the
time of the fatal fires.
10.1 Overview
In Australia, 550 fire fatalities occurred in 451
structure fires between 1 July 1991 and 30 June
1996. In order to determine if there were any fire
trends evident throughout the research period, the
number of fire-related fatalities within States and
Territories of Australia were analysed, both
individually and cumulatively.
The ‘Fire Fatalities: Who’s at Risk?’ project has
concentrated on analysing fire fatalities that have
occurred in the past. The use of historical data
has made the data analysis component of the
project difficult due to inconsistencies between
data sources and incomplete data. By using
historical data, it has only been possible to gain
a static account of the cases from the secondary
data sources available.
Although the insight gained from studying fire
fatality data will benefit both Fire Services and the
community at large, further insight would be
gained from additional research with those people
who have successfully escaped from structural
fires. Through analysing current fire incident data
and interviewing fire survivors, the knowledge
gained from this additional research would enable
Fire Services to not only better target, but
enhance, fire education programs which offer the
community more effective working solutions to
fire situations.
As shown in Table 10.1 and in Figure 10.1, the
national rate of fire fatalities per 100,000 people
has stayed relatively constant over the study
period with an average of 0.6 deaths / 100,000.
The more populous states of Queensland, New
South Wales and Victoria have a combined
average of 0.65 deaths/100,000.
10.2 Time of fatal fires
One of the primary areas of interest was the fire
fatality time-related data. The three categories
of data that were of most significance for each
fire death were the time of death relative to the
alarm time of the Fire Service, the month of the
year, and the time of day when the fire death
occurred. Results from analysing this data will
be of importance to Fire Services’ service delivery
strategies.
Time of death analysis
As discussed earlier in Section 1.5.1, there are
limitations associated with methodologies used to
assign a time of death. There is no method of
establishing an exact time of death due to fire.
Therefore, unless a reliable witness account is
available or the victim died after the fire, time of
death can only be approximated. In addition,
there were discrepancies associated with the data
Table 10.1 - National fire deaths
Financial
year
1991/92
1992/93
1993/94
1994/95
Queensland
0.43
0.32
0.69
1.00
0.68
New South Wales
0.82
0.73
0.73
0.57
0.82
Victoria
0.67
0.72
0.62
0.51
0.39
Western Australia
0.12
0.18
0.35
0.69
0.45
0
0.27
0.34
0.41
0.07
0.64
0.85
1.06
1.06
1.27
ACT
0
0
0.66
1.64
0.65
Northern Territory
0
2.36
0.85
0
0
0.55
0.57
0.63
0.66
0.6
South Australia
Tasmania
AUSTRALIA
1995/96
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
10. AUSTRALIA
77
2.4
2.2
2
1.8
1.6
1.4
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
Australia
0.66
0.57
0.55
1992/93
1991/92
1993/94
Financial years
collected due to inconsistencies and incomplete
records.
Of the 550 fire deaths recorded across Australia
for the research period (1 July 1991 - 30 June 1996),
time of death analysis [described in Section
1.4.1(iii)] was performed for 251 (46 per cent) of
the fire death victims. As illustrated in Table 10.2,
136 (54 per cent) of the 251 fire death victims
whose records had a time of death established,
were recorded as being dead either prior to or
coinciding with the Fire Service alarm time.
Table 10.2 - Time of death of victims relative
to alarm time - Australia
Recorded time of death
1994/95
1995/96
Table 10.3 shows it was not possible to determine
the level of fire involvement of the structural fires
for 27 (23 per cent) of the remaining 115 victims
who had their time of death listed as being after
the Fire Service alarm time. However, for the
remaining 88 victims, the structure was reported
to be either well alight, fully involved, heavily
smoked or at least 60 per cent involved at the
time of arrival of the Fire Service for 76 of these
fire death victims. When this data is examined
together with the number of victims who were
deceased prior to or coinciding with the Fire
Service alarm time, it is possible that 212 of the
victims were deceased prior to or coinciding with
the Fire Service alarm time (see Figure 10.2).
Total no. of fires
Before or coinciding with alarm time
After alarm time
Unknown
TOTAL
136
115
299
550
Figure 10.2 - Victims time of death Results of analysis relative to alarm time
Table 10.3 - State of fire on arrival of fire
services - Australia
State of the fire on arrival of the
Fire Service (for cases where the
time of death was recorded as
after alarm time).*
Fully involved
Well alight
Fire involved 60% or more
Heavy smoke
Small fire
Unknown
0.6
0.63
No. of cases
28
31
5
12
12
27
300
Number of victims
Deaths per 100,000
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
78
Figure 10.1 - Fire deaths (national trend)
299 299
Post-analysis
Recorded
250
212
200
150
136
115
100
39
50
0
Before
After
Time of death
Unknown
Month of year
•
The time of death of fire victims is not
consistently recorded.
•
The time of death of fire victims, as
recorded by the Coroner’s Office, is
often not the actual time of death.
•
Where information is available on time
of death, alarm time and the level of
involvement of the fire, it is possible
to predict that as many as 84 per cent
of fire fatality victims were dead prior
to or coinciding with the Fire Service
alarm time.
•
Analysis was performed on the Australian data in
order to determine the months of the year when
the fire fatalities most often occurred. The majority
(62 per cent) of the fire fatalities occurred in the
second half of the year, as illustrated in Figure
10.3. The winter months of June, July and August
were the most frequent period (33 per cent) when
the fire fatalities occurred.
When analysing the data on a State by State basis,
most of the fatal fires occurred during winter.
However, this was not the case in South Australia
as, even though the majority (69 per cent) of the
South Australian fire fatalities occurred in the
second half of the year, the winter months did
not record a high number of fire fatalities. Victoria
and South Australia experienced a pre-Christmas
peak in fire fatalities, with Queensland fire
fatalities peaking in the month of December. In
the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital
Territory, it was not possible to establish trends
due to the small number of fire fatalities that
occurred during the research period.
Early detection of the presence of
smoke is critical to achieving a
reduction in preventable fire deaths.
RECOMMENDATIONS
It is recommended that:
10.1 Fire Services review current service
delivery strategies with a view to
developing more effective and
appropriate service delivery strategies
with due emphasis on fire prevention.
Accidents involving heaters were one of the major
causes of winter fires. A large number of the
accidents involving heaters occurred by having
combustibles too close to the heating unit. Many
of these accidents occurred when either clothes
were put too close to the heater or bedclothes fell
onto the heater throughout the night. Discarded
smoking materials was also a major cause of the
winter fires in Australia. August recorded the
highest number of fire fatalities (13 per cent) for
a single month throughout the period of the
research.
10.2 Fire Services implement a system for
the collection of relevant time of death
data for each fire fatality victim.
10.3 Fire Services investigate elements of
other successful community awareness
and education programs, such as those
developed by the Department of
Transport and other Commonwealth
and State Government Departments.
Figure 10.3 - National deaths per month (period 1991/92 to 1995/96)
Number of victims
80
68
74
60
40
55
43
42
25
20
0
Jan
Feb
42
37
55
53
Nov
Dec
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
FINDINGS
35
21
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Months
Aug
Sep
Oct
79
•
Most of the fire fatalities occurred
during the second half of the year with
August recording the highest number
of fire deaths.
•
Accidents involving heaters and
discarded smoking materials were a
major cause of winter fires.
of gaseous carbon monoxide which would have
affected their mental and physical behaviour. In
Australia, where the cause of death was known
and could be attributed to the fire, more than
half of the victims died as a result of smoke
inhalation (See Section 10.5).
Figure 10.4 - Deaths time of day
RECOMMENDATIONS
250
210
It is recommended that:
Number of victims
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
80
FINDINGS
10.4 Fire Services review, where appropriate, community-based fire safety
campaigns to ensure that they are
appropriately timed, resourced and
relate to the most common cause of
fires.
10.5 Fire Services research causes of death
and ignition in peak fire fatality periods
in comparison to the rest of the year
(and investigate any potential overreporting of electrical faults).
Time of day
Due to insufficient information, it was not possible
to determine the time of day when 124 fire fatalities
occurred. In Australia, the period between
midnight and 8.00 am recorded the highest
number of fatalities (210 fatalities). This finding
was fairly constant across all the Australian States.
However, in Western Australia, it was found that
the time between 8.00 am and 6.00 pm (39 per
cent) and between midnight and 8.00 am (39
per cent) were equally the most frequent times
when fire fatalities occurred. In the Northern
Territory, 60 per cent of the fire fatalities occurred
between 8.00 am and 6.00 pm.
The period between midnight and 8.00 am is the
time of day when people are less likely to observe
the initial stages of a fire as they are usually asleep.
As it was highly likely that most of the victims were
asleep at the time of ignition and in the early stages
of the fire when smoke was produced, the victims
would have been exposed to a high concentration
200
150
123
93
100
50
0 00:00 to 08:00
08:00 to 18:00
Time of day
18:00 to 00:00
Exposure to high concentrations of carbon
monoxide can cause some people to become
confused and disoriented which would make it
difficult for them to escape from the fire, whereas
other people may never have awoken from their
sleep. (Carbon monoxide produces a variety of
physiological effects in victims such as confusion,
collapse and unconsciousness. These effects are
dependent upon the concentration of carbon
monoxide to which the victims have been
exposed (Hirschler; 1993:113). For further
information, refer to Appendix 3. Therefore, it is
essential that fire prevention campaigns continue
to reinforce the need for residential smoke
alarms, particularly to alert people of a fire when
they are sleeping so that they can safely evacuate
the property.
FINDING
•
•
The majority of fire fatalities occurred
in the time period between midnight
and 8.00am.
Many victims were likely to have been
affected by toxic levels of carbon
monoxide which would reduce their
ability to escape the fire.
It is recommended that:
10.6 Fire Services continue to emphasise in
their respective community-based fire
safety programs:
-
the need for smoke alarms in
residential dwellings
the speed with which structure fires
can develop
the need for well-rehearsed
evacuation plans
the need for parents to evacuate all
children at the same time.
10.3 Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of
the victims
Major demographic details of fire fatality victims
were analysed in order to identify possible groups
in the community which were most at risk from
fire deaths. Fire incident data that related
specifically to the circumstances surrounding the
deaths of these identified ‘at risk’ victims was
also analysed.
This information will enable Fire Services to
develop promotional and educational programs
specifically targeted to these groups highlighting
appropriate and relevant fire safety practices.
Gender and age of the victims
Due to incomplete records, it was not possible
to determine the gender of the victims in 36 (nine
per cent) of the Australian cases. However,
analysis of the remaining 514 cases revealed that
318 of the victims were male. This finding was
constant across all the Australian States. The
highest risk groups were elderly people aged 65
years and over (27 per cent) and children aged
between zero and four years (13 per cent).
However, it is important to note that, although
elderly people and children are the most ‘at risk ‘
from fire deaths in the Australian community, a
number of fire deaths occur in groups of people
who fall outside these two target groups. The
problem with some fire education programs is
that a large percentage of the population are not
Table 10.4 - Age of fire death victims (male and female) - Australia
Age groupings
(Years)
Total no.
of victims
Percentage
Age group as a % of
Australian population*
0-4
5-9
10 - 14
15 - 19
20 - 24
25 - 29
30 - 34
35 - 39
40 - 44
45 - 49
50 - 54
55 - 59
60 - 64
65 - 69
70 - 74
75 - 79
80 - 84
85+
Unknown
61
25
14
18
33
35
18
34
38
27
22
16
13
20
25
30
24
35
62
13%
5%
3%
4%
7%
7%
4%
7%
8%
6%
5%
3%
3%
4%
5%
6%
5%
7%
N/A
7%
7%
7%
7%
8%
8%
8%
8%
7%
7%
5%
4%
4%
4%
3%
2%
1%
1%
N/A
*Source: Average of ABS Estimated Resident Population June Quarter 1991 to 1996. The percentage totals may not add up to 100% due to
the rounding of individual age brackets.
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
RECOMMENDATION
81
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
82
covered in the target groups for fire education.
Primary school children and elderly people
regularly receive fire safety instruction, but little
effort is targeted towards other members of the
community who do not fall into these two groups.
Strategies should also be developed to ensure
that teenagers and adults are educated on firerelated issues such as the speed and
development of a fire, how carbon monoxide
affects behaviour and practical fire safety
behaviours (Haugstad;1990:45). The very old and
the very young are dependent on others for their
safety and escape.
FINDING
•
Based on available data, the majority
of fire death victims were male and
high risk groups were either people
aged 65 years and over (27 per cent)
or children aged between zero and
four years (13 per cent).
RECOMMENDATIONS
It is recommended that:
10.7 Where appropriate, Fire Ser vices
consider people in the 65+ age group
for a subsidised smoke alarm
installation.
10.8 The Australasian Fire Authorities
Council, in conjunction with State Fire
Services, liaise with State and Federal
Government agencies to seek
agreement to include fire safety
brochures in selected correspondence
to pensioners, retirees, unemployed
people and people involved in home
duties.
Birthplace and ethnicity of the victims
Data on birthplace and ethnicity of fire death
victims was analysed in order to determine if a
relationship existed between fire deaths and the
ethnic background of the victims.
It was not possible to determine the birthplace of
175 (32 per cent) of the victims. For the remaining
375 cases, the majority of these victims (76 per
cent) were born in Australia. The United
Kingdom was the next most frequently cited
birthplace for 31 of the victims, with a further eight
victims being born in New Zealand. A number
of countries and locations were identified as the
birthplace for other fire victims including Korea,
Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand,
Fiji, Tonga, Iceland, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden,
Germany, France, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Poland,
Mauritus, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Uganda,
North East Asia, South Africa, Middle East/North
Africa and the Republic of Czechoslovia.
Post mortems and coronial records did not
accurately classify the ethnicity of the fire victims.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) unit record data
was also analysed in order to determine if any of
the fire death victims had an Aboriginal or Torres
Strait Islander (ATSI) background. In Australia, 14
victims were positively identified as being of an
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander heritage.
However, this result should be viewed with caution
as several flaws exist in the reporting of ATSI
ethnicity in unit record death data. Firstly, the
reporting of ATSI data was introduced gradually
over a period of time throughout Australian States,
commencing in New South Wales in 1980 with
Queensland data collection commencing in 1996.
This made it difficult to uniformly analyse the data
from a national perspective. Secondly, problems
existed with the accuracy of the ATSI death data
being collected in some States. As there is no
legislative requirement for the ABS to collect
information on the ethnicity of the victims,
discrepancies existed in the data. Therefore,
comprehensive data on the ethnicity of fire death
victims does not exist nationally and, to avoid
possibly misleading conclusions, the available
data was not used in this report.
FINDINGS
•
The birthplace of fire death victims was
only recorded for 375 (68 per cent)
victims.
•
Where information was available, it
was confirmed that the majority of
fire death victims (76 per cent) were
born in Australia.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that:
10.9 Fire Services institute a system to
accurately record the ethnicity of fire
death victims.
‘At risk’ groups
The occupations of the victims were analysed in
order to ascertain if a relationship existed between
the occupations of the fire death victims and the
risk of fire death.
Elderly people aged 65 years and over (27 per
cent) and children aged between zero and four
years (13 per cent) were identified as being the
most ‘at risk’ groups from fire deaths in Australia.
Alcohol was a contributing factor to the deaths
of 94 (21 per cent) people aged over the legal
drinking age of 18 years, and the victims are
considered an ‘at risk’ group worthy of note in
this research paper.
There were 103 children and students identified
in the Australian research. For the remaining 447
fire death victims who were not identified as
children and students, it was not possible to
determine the occupations for 136 of the fire death
victims. The following analysis is based upon the
remaining 311 victims.
In Australia, 179 of the victims were not in the
workforce, with their occupations being listed as
either pensioner, retired, home duties or
unemployed. This finding was replicated across
all the individual Australian States. As a large
number of the fire death victims were not
employed at the time of their deaths and probably
spent a large percentage of their time in the
home, it is essential that Fire Services employ
public education strategies that not only target
home fire hazards, but are also directed
specifically to these ‘at risk’ groups in their own
home. This could be achieved by including fire
safety brochures in correspondence (eg. pension
notices, electricity bills) that is already being sent
to these ‘at risk’ groups.
There were 63 victims employed in skilled labour/
trades, with 30 victims being employed in unskilled
positions at the time of their deaths. It was
identified that 21 of the Australian fire death victims
were invalids. There were 16 victims engaged in
professional occupations. Two of the fire death
victims were identified as being mature aged
students at the time of their deaths.
FINDING
•
Where information was available, a
high percentage of victims (58 per
cent) were not in the work force, with
their occupations listed as either
pensioner, retired, home duties or
unemployed.
Following are profiles for each of these groups
highlighting the characteristics and fire problem
unique to each group.
ELDERLY 65 PLUS AGE BRACKET
- AUSTRALIA
Discussion
In Australia, 134 (27 per cent) of the fire death
victims were aged 65 years and older. It
was not possible to determine the gender
of nine of the fire death victims. Of the
remaining 125 victims, 65 of the victims were
male. In 25 cases, it was not possible to
determine the marital status of the victims.
However, for the remaining 109 victims, 76
were either single, widowed, separated or
divorced. One hundred and three victims
performed either home duties, or were
pensioners or retired. Four of the fire death
victims were identified as belonging to an
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander
background.
It was identified that 48 of the fire death
victims were residing in one to two family
residences at the time of their deaths. It was
not possible to determine the property
ownership in 63 cases. However, of the 71
remaining cases, it was identified that 41
victims were residing in owner-occupied
premises.
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
Occupations of the victims
Smoke inhalation (56 per cent) was the major
cause of fire death for victims in this age
bracket, with a further nine per cent of the
victims dying from a combination of smoke
inhalation and burns/incineration. In 43 (35
per cent) cases, the victims died due to burns
and/or incineration.
83
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
84
The fire problem
It was not possible to determine the fire
category responsible for the deaths of 60
elderly victims. Of the remaining 74 cases,
68 of the fatalities occurred in accidental/
preventable fires. The time of the fires was
reported in 93 cases, with the hours between
midnight and 8.00 am being the most
frequent time (45 per cent) when these
fatalities occurred.
Bedrooms and lounge rooms were the areas
where a number of these fires originated. A
variety of causes were determined for these
fires, with discarded smoking materials (eg.
falling asleep whilst smoking) and accidents
involving heaters (eg. combustibles too close
to the heater) being the most common
causes of fatal fires involving elderly people.
Smoke alarms were either not reported or
not present in any of the fatal fires that
involved people aged 65 years and over.
Fire education should not only be targeted to those
people that are currently members of the 65 years
and older age bracket, but should also be directed
at middle-aged people. Through re-education,
middle-aged people can learn new lifestyle
practices that can benefit them now and in their
older years (Hutton, 1996:8).
In order for fire education to be effective, fire safety
education should be designed to reach older
people in their own environments such as
nursing homes, boarding houses and their own
homes. Training must also be given to those
people who are responsible for the safety of these
older people, such as staff in nursing homes and
family members for those elderly people who live
independently in their own homes (Walker, Beck,
Walker, Shemanski, 1992:134).
RECOMMENDATIONS
It is recommended that:
10.10 Fire Ser vices research other
mechanisms for ensuring effective
communication with the elderly,
including doctors, Meals on Wheels,
church groups, messages on or
inclusions with electricity/telephone/
rates bills.
10.11 Fire Services develop communitybased education programs to target
aged people emphasising fire safety
issues in kitchen environments and
the dangers of garments igniting
from exposed heat sources.
CHILDREN AGED BETWEEN
ZERO AND FOUR YEARS AUSTRALIA
Discussion
Children in this age category represented 13
per cent (61) of the fire death victims analysed
for the research period. The majority (79 per
cent) of these victims were male. Four of
the victims were identified as being from an
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander
background.
It was not possible to determine the cause of
death for five of the victims. Of the remaining
56 victims, smoke inhalation was identified
as being the major cause of death for 36
victims, with a further five dying from a
combination of smoke inhalation and burns/
incineration. Fifteen of the victims died from
burns/incineration. Fourteen of these victims
were male.
The fire problem
For 44 of the cases, it was possible to
determine the time of day when the fires
occurred. Most of the fire fatalities involving
children aged between zero and four years
occurred between the hours of 8.00 am and
6.00 pm. The hours between midnight and
8.00 am recorded the second highest
number of child fatalities throughout the
research period.
It was not possible to determine the fire
category for 29 of the fire fatalities. In the
remaining 32 cases, 30 occurred in
accidental/preventable fires. In 11 of the
cases, it was positively identified that the fires
were caused as a result of child fire play.
The issue of child fire play has been addressed
in European countries such as Switzerland and
the Netherlands, where the fire brigades
counteract the child fire play problem by
However, after analysing a number of cases
it was also identified that a number of the
fatalities may have occurred due to difficulties
with evacuating the family from the fire. The
research has indicated that the parents of
these victims were not aware of the speed
and development of the fire. In an attempt
to escape the fire, parents often evacuate
some family members with the belief that
they will be able to go back into the dwelling
to evacuate other children. However, it is
often the case that a re-entry and subsequent
escape from the building is not possible.
Parents invariably are of the belief that
sufficient time will be available to undertake
an evacuation of the family in a number of
stages. Evidence from an examination of fire
fatality records, together with anecdotal
evidence from operational fire officers,
suggests that only in extremely rare cases will
parents be able to effect a multi-stage
evacuation.
In two of the fire death victims’ cases, there
were smoke alarms present in the area of
fire origin, but they failed to operate due to
an inappropriate type of alarm being
installed. For the remaining 59 cases, there
were no smoke alarms reported to be
present in any of the structures where these
fatal fires occurred.
FINDINGS
•
Smoke inhalation was the major cause
of death for children in the zero to
four years age bracket.
•
Of those children that died as a result
of burns/incineration, most of the
victims were male.
•
The majority of fire death victims in
the zero to four years age bracket
died between the hours of 8.00am
and 6.00pm.
•
Where data was available, the
majority of fires were categorised as
accidental/preventable.
•
97 per cent of child fire death victims
had no smoke alarms present in the
structures at the time of the fatal fire.
RECOMMENDATIONS
It is recommended that:
10.12 Fire Services review current fire safety
campaigns to ensure that they illustrate
the speed and development of a fire
and the need for parents to evacuate
all children at the same time, as well
as the need for well rehearsed
evacuation plans.
10.13 A publicity campaign be conducted in
conjunction with P & C associations and
other parent groups to encourage
parents to prepare and rehearse fire
safety evacuation plans for the home
and adjoining buildings.
10.14 Fire Ser vices investigate the
effectiveness of current juvenile fire
awareness and intervention programs.
10.15
(i) Fire Services develop a team-based
approach to the development and
implementation of effective fire safety
school education and awareness
initiatives, involving curriculum
specialists, expert teachers, text book
publishers and parent representatives
(ii) Fire Services initiate discussions with
their
respective
State-based
Departments of Education to second
teachers (curriculum specialists) to
assist with the development of
appropriate curriculum resources
which emphasise effective fire safety
messages and integrate them into the
normal school curriculum.
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
assigning the responsibility of fire safety
education to the parents. Through involving
the children in fire lighting activities, such
as lighting a camp fire, parents are able to
demystify the children’s fascination and
curiosity with fire (Schaenman; 1982:20).
85
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
86
ALCOHOL RELATED FIRE
DEATHS - AUSTRALIA
alcohol intoxication on human cognitive and
psychomotor performance and the repeated
and consistent observation in case studies
of alcohol abuse and high blood
concentrations in fire victims, there is strong
evidence to indicate that alcohol contributes
to fire injury. Accidental ignition of a fire,
delayed reactions and ability to escape to
safety, and problems with balance and an
increased risk of falling into the ignition
source may also occur with alcohol
impairment (Department of Human Service
and Health, 1995; p 214). Smoke inhalation
(80 per cent) was the major cause of death
for victims of alcohol-related fires. Three of
the victims died from a combination of burns
and/or incineration and smoke inhalation.
Discussion
In Australia, 441 of the fire death victims were
aged over the legal drinking age of 18 years.
Of these 441 victims, it was positively
identified that 94 of the fire death victims had
alcohol in their bloodstreams at the time of
their death. The number of alcohol-related
fire deaths may be underestimated due to the
current system of only testing the blood
alcohol level of fatalities at the time of or
immediately following the fire. However, if
the victim dies some hours or days later, no
blood alcohol reading will be recorded
because the alcohol will have dissipated from
the victim’s bloodstream. Similarly, the
victims of the fire may not be responsible
for causing the fire and other people
involved in the fire who have not died, may
have been affected by alcohol, but no
investigation or record is made of this.
The fire problem
The fire category was not available for 16 of
the cases. Of the remaining 78 cases, 64 of
the fire fatalities occurred in accidental/
preventable fires. Nine of the fatalities were
caused with the intent to harm either the
person lighting the fire or others. An alarm
time was not reported in 12 of the cases.
However, in the remaining 82 cases where
an alarm time was recorded, 49 of the fire
fatalities occurred between the hours of
midnight and 8.00 am. The fires originated
in lounge rooms and bedrooms. Discarded
smoking materials, falling asleep with a
cigarette in hand and accidents involving
portable heaters were the most common
cause of alcohol-related fires.
The age of the victims varied and was not a
common factor across the group. In the 81
cases where the marital status of the victim
was identified, 56 of the victims were not
married and were either single, separated,
divorced or widowed. Four of the victims were
reported to be of an Aboriginal or Torres Strait
Islander background.
In 78 cases, an occupation was reported for
the victims. It was identified that 31 of the
victims of alcohol-related deaths were either
on the pension, retired, invalids, unemployed
or involved in home duties at the time of their
deaths. The remaining victims were listed as
being employed in skilled labour and/or trades
(25 victims), unskilled labour (10 victims),
professions (7 victims) and office work (5
victims) at the time of their deaths.
The blood alcohol levels for 74 of the victims
were well over 50mg/100ml (the legal limit for
drink driving), with most of the victims
recording over 150mg/100ml blood alcohol
content at the time of their death. It is highly
probable that the level of alcohol
consumption prior to the fire may have
diminished the response of the victims to the
fire situation. Given the acute effects of
It was positively identified in 27 of the cases
that there were no smoke alarms present in
the structures at the time of the fire. For the
remaining cases, there was no information
available as to the absence or presence of
smoke alarms in the structures where these
alcohol-related fires occurred.
FINDINGS
•
Alcohol is a contributing factor to a
significant number of fire deaths.
•
The presence or otherwise of smoke
alarms is not well reported.
It is recommended that:
10.16 Fire Services work with the Australasian
Fire Authorities Council to support
research into the development and
design of smoke alarms with pitch,
volume and pulse capabilities to alert
inebriated persons to the presence of
a fire.
campaigns to be specifically targeted to Rental
Authorities, both in the public and private sector,
and also to Real Estate agents in order to reduce
the number of fire deaths that occur in rental
properties.
Figure 10.5 - Property Status
Fire Fatalities 1991/92 to 1995/96
Owner occupied (120)
10.4 Property type and
ownership
Analysis was performed on the data in order to
determine both the type of property most
commonly involved in fatal fires and the ownership
of these properties. This information will enable
Fire Services to develop strategies that maximise
fire safety in ‘at risk’ properties to ensure the
incidence of fire fatalities is reduced.
Throughout Australia, residential properties were
the most frequently cited property type where the
fire fatalities occurred. It was not possible to
determine the type of property where 265 of the
fire fatalities occurred. The following analysis is
based upon the remaining 285 fire death victims.
Of those properties clearly identified in the
research, 214 of the fire fatalities occurred in one
to two family dwellings. In fact, throughout the
individual States and Territories of Australia, the
majority of fatal fires occurred in residential
properties, in particular one to two family
dwellings. This finding highlights the need for Fire
Services to reinforce and strengthen their fire
prevention efforts on domestic residences within
Australia.
In 271 cases, it was not possible to determine
the ownership of the properties where the fire
fatalities occurred. Of the remaining 279 cases,
159 of the fire fatalities occurred in rental
properties. This finding was consistent across all
the individual Australian States and Territories
where the property ownership was identified,
except for Tasmania, where the majority of fire
fatalities occurred in owner-occupied premises. In
114 cases involving rental properties, 69 of the
properties were privately owned with 45 of the
properties being owned by the Government.
This finding illustrates the need for fire prevention
Rentals (159)
Unknown (271)
Numerous examples are available on how lives
have been potentially saved through the
installation of a working smoke alarm. For
example, in Queensland, since 1 July 1997, it has
been required by law that smoke alarms powered
by mains electricity be installed in all new houses
and houses undergoing substantial renovations.
However, as a number of fire death victims are
in lower socio-economic groups, it is highly
probable that this legislation would not have
impacted on these fire victims.
Therefore, it is essential that strategies be
developed to ensure that all members of the
community are protected from fire by smoke
alarms. Differing approaches could be developed
ranging from subsidised smoke alarms, reduction
in insurance premiums when a smoke alarm is
installed through to mandatory smoke alarm
legislation for all residential properties with
penalties for not having working smoke alarms
(Rieniets, 1993:12). In Japan, the enforcement of
building codes is more efficient through using
systems such as private fire protection and fire
insurance surveys. Although legal penalties are
seldom invoked, they serve as a potentially
powerful reminder to the Japanese community to
carry out safe fire behaviours and practices
(Wilmot, 1989:37).
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
RECOMMENDATION
87
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
FINDINGS
•
The types of property where fire
fatalities occurred and their ownership
status were undetermined for 265 (48
per cent) fire death victims and 271
(49 per cent) respectively.
•
Where information was available, the
majority of fire fatalities occurred in
one to two family dwellings and were
rental properties (the majority of these
were privately owned rental
properties).
RECOMMENDATIONS
FINDING
•
Where information was available, 256
of the fire deaths occurred in
accidental/preventable fires.
It is recommended that:
10.17 Fire Services cooperatively work with
real estate associations to discuss
non-legislative strategies for the
installation of hard wired smoke
alarms to private rental properties.
10.27 Further investigation be undertaken to
develop strategies that will ensure that
all members of the community are
protected by the installation of smoke
alarms in their properties.
10.5 Major causes of fatal fires
Information was collected from all Australian
States and Territories through the AIRS system
and Fire Investigation Unit records in order to
determine the major causes of fatal fires between
1 July 1991 and 30 June 1996. The three areas of
interest were the category of fire, (eg. if the fire
was classified as being lit accidentally or
deliberately), the factors that caused the fires and
the major cause of death for fire death victims.
Based on these findings, Fire Services can use
this information to strengthen current educational
programs, highlighting appropriate fire safety
behaviours, to minimise the risk of fire.
Category of fire
88
reported that 256 of the fires were caused
accidentally. This finding was consistently reported
across all Australian States and Territories (except
in Western Australia, where no fire category was
reported). Therefore, as the majority of fire deaths
in Australia were caused by fires that were
classified as being accidental, it is essential that
Fire Services continue to strive towards the
reduction in preventable fire deaths. In 71 of
the fire fatalities, the fires were deliberately lit
with the intention to harm either the person
lighting the fire or others.
It was not possible to determine the category of
the fire (ie. if the fire was accidental or deliberate
in nature) in 223 of the cases due to insufficient
information. In the remaining 327 cases, it was
Cause of fire
In 254 cases, a fire cause was not reported. Of
the other 296 cases where a fire cause was
reported, the cause for 147 fatalities was reported
as being undetermined. Eighty-nine of the
victims died in fires that were caused by accidents
involving discarded smoking materials, lighters
or matches. One of the major areas of concern
with accidents of this nature is that a number of
the victims were unaware of the fact that they
had discarded their cigarette because they were
either asleep or intoxicated with alcohol. Child
fire play was also another cause of these fires
involving discarded smoking materials, lighters
and matches.
Thirty-six victims died as a result of accidental fires
caused by heaters. The main problem with heater
fires is that combustibles are placed too close to
the heater. This is either done intentionally, as was
the case with victims drying clothing too close to
the heating unit or unintentionally through having
the heater too close to the bed with bedclothes
accidentally falling on to the heater throughout the
night.
Electrical faults were also identified as another
cause of fires in which 24 fatalities occurred.
These problems ranged from the overloading of
power outlets, as was especially the case in
Queensland in the winter months, faulty
equipment and other unspecified electrical faults.
FINDINGS
•
•
The cause of fatal fires was
undetermined for 147 (27 per cent)
of fire death victims during the
research period.
Where information was available, it
was established that a majority (22
per cent) of fatal fires were caused
by accidents involving discarded
smoking materials, lighters or
matches.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that:
10.18 Fire Services lobby Government to
introduce warnings on cigarette
packets which highlight the
relationship between smoking and
fires.
Cause of death
Due to incomplete records, it was not possible to
determine the cause of death for 53 (10 per cent)
of the fire death victims in Australia. For an
additional 174 victims, their cause of death could
not be attributed solely to the fire as they were
either involved in a deliberately lit fire (eg. suicide;
murder) or they died from some other cause prior
to the fire (eg. heart attack).
For the remaining 323 fire death victims, 181 died
as a result of smoke inhalation, with a further 42
victims dying from the combined effects of burns
and smoke inhalation. In 100 cases, the victims
had their cause of death listed as being burns
and/or incineration. Smoke inhalation was the
major cause of death in the majority of the
individual States and Territories, except for
Queensland where the cause of death for the
fire death victims was equally attributed to smoke
inhalation (50 per cent) and burns/incineration
(50 per cent). This anomaly may be due to the
fact that a number of the Queensland victims
who had their cause of death listed as being
burns/incineration were either actively involved
in the area of ignition at the time of the fire and/
or, due to their immobility, may have found it
difficult to rapidly escape from the fire. This
finding further strengthens the need for Fire
Services to continue to promote the need for
smoke alarms in order to ensure people have
adequate time to escape from the fire.
FINDING
•
Where a cause of death was
established for fire death victims, the
majority of victims died from smoke
inhalation.
RECOMMENDATIONS
It is recommended that:
10.19 Fire Ser vices liaise with all key
stakeholders (Fire Safety, Fire
Investigation Unit, Arson Squad, Police
Scientific Services, Department of
Mines and Energy, Fire Investigation
Association) to investigate causes of
fire and sources of ignition to make
the best use of available resources and
information.
10.20 Fire Services continue to maintain
training of fire personnel in fire scene
investigations, particularly in the areas
of determination of the category and
cause of the fire.
10.6 Smoke alarms
In order to determine if smoke alarms were present
in properties, data was collected through the AIRS
system for all Australian States and Territories
between 1 July 1991 and 30 June 1996. This
information will enable Fire Services to determine
the effectiveness of smoke alarm promotion to
those people most ‘at risk’ from fire deaths.
In Australia, it was positively identified that in 195
(35 per cent) fire fatalities, there were no smoke
alarms present in the structures at the time of
the fire. This finding is supported by a research
report from the United States of America which
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
For the remaining 254 fire fatalities, the fire causes
were not clearly reported, but corroborating
information showed that the causes may have
included cooking fire accidents, candles,
mosquito coils, bushfires, direct flames, gas and
explosions. Accelerants were used in a number
of deliberately lit fires.
89
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
90
identified that the risk of dying in a fire was
heightened if a smoke alarm was not present in
the structure. In 77 per cent of the fatal fires
researched in the American study, no smoke
detectors were present in the structure at the
time of the fire (Runyan, Bangdiwala, Linzer,
Sacks & Butts 1993:186).
In five of the Australian fire fatalities, it was
identified that smoke alarms were present in the
structure and worked at the time of the fire. In a
fire which involved two victims, a smoke alarm was
present in the room of the fire origin, but failed
to operate. In the remaining 543 cases, it was
either positively identified that smoke alarms were
not present in the structure at the time of the
fire or that the presence or absence of the smoke
alarms in the structure was not able to be
established.
These findings suggest the probability that the
smoke alarm message may not be reaching certain
groups within the Australian population.
Therefore, there is a need to develop and
implement strategies designed to reach these
‘at risk’ groups with the smoke alarm message.
There are also several problems associated with
the reporting of smoke alarms in the AIRS system
as indicated by the high percentage of unreported
smoke alarms. There is possibly some confusion
over the terminology of smoke detectors /smoke
alarms as identified in the AIRS reports. This could
be alleviated by providing a separate category on
the AIRS form for the reporting of smoke alarms.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that:
10.21 Fire Services implement strategies to
ensure that operational fire fighters
are:
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
aware of the purpose and
importance of fire incident data
collection
trained in how to complete
incident data forms (including a
standard
approach
to
determining the valuation of
properties)
included in processes to
determine the type of data to
be captured
informed of the outcomes of
collation and analysis of the data
on a regular basis.
FIRE RELATED DEATHS
1 Fire Incident Number
Post Mortem Findings
2 Coroner’s File Number
12 Date of death (dd/mm/yy)
3 Year of Registration
13 Is a time of death listed for the deceased?
Details of Deceased
4 Surname
Given Names
5 Occupation
if occupation unkown please circle here .............. 9
6 Marital Status
Never married ................... 1 Divorced ................ 4
Married/defacto ................ 2 Widowed ............... 5
Separated not divorced ... 3 Unknown ............... 9
7 Age in years
8 Sex
Yes ...................................... 1 If yes, complete Q14
No ...................................... 2 If no, go to Q17
14 What was the time of death?
am/pm
15 Was the time of death listed as after alarm time?
Yes ...................................... 1
No ...................................... 2
Unknown .......................... 9
16 Was this time listed as an approximation?
Yes ...................................... 1
No ...................................... 2
Unknown .......................... 9
17 What was the state of the fire before the fire service
arrived as described in Police/Coroners Reports?
Male ................................... 1 Unknown ............... 9
Female ............................... 2
9 Suburb/Town of Residence
10 Place of Birth
Country:
Town/City (if Aust.):
If unknown, please circle here ............................... 9
11 Labour Force Status
18 Ethnicity of the deceased
(This is usually detailed in the Post Mortem report)
Cause of deaths
19 Brief summary of Cause of Death as described on
Death Certificate/Post Mortem report.
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
APPENDIX 1
Confidential
Employed .......................... 1 Unknown ............... 9
Unemployed ..................... 2
Not in labour force ........... 3
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FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
92
20 Brief summary of events leading to death as
described in Police/Coroner’s Report
Please include in this section any other matters
relevant to this case
Notes
21 Category of fire if available from Fire Investigation/
Police Reports
Accidental ................................... 1
Deliberate/intent to harm .......... 2
Act of God ................................... 3
Undetermined ............................ 4
Unknown .................................... 9
22 Did the incident involve multiple deaths
Yes .................. 1
No .................. 2
Number
23 Was a projected ignition time stated in the Fire
Investigation/Police Reports?
Yes .................. 1
No .................. 2
am/pm
Toxicology Findings
24 Was the blood alcohol level measured?
Yes .................. 1
No .................. 2
mg/100ml
25 Was the Carbon Monoxide level measured?
Yes .................. 1
No .................. 2
% hb saturation
Drugs identified
26 Were any drugs (including ethanol) identified?
Yes .................. 1
No .................. 2
27 If yes, please list identified drugs
Project Management and Oversight
Project sponsor and Chair,
Project Reference Group:
Fiona McKersie, Director, Policy Unit, DES
Project manager:
Judy Newton, Policy Officer, Policy Unit, DES
Ongoing information, assistance and critical examination of the project was also provided by a Project
Support Team, drawn from within the QFRA Chief Commissioner’s, Fire Safety and Planning Operations
Units, the Policy Unit of DES and the Queensland Government Statistician’s Office. Members of the
Team included:
Project support team:
Gavin McCullagh (Convenor), Policy Officer, Policy Unit
Robert Simpson, Director, Strategic Planning and Development, QFRA
Ron Attwood, Strategic Planning Coordinator, Policy Unit
Bryan Evans, Policy Officer, Policy Unit
Karen Barrett, Chief Statistician, QFRA
Dr Iraphne Childs (QUT)
John Davies, Acting Principal Fire Safety Officer, QFRA
Graeme Thom, District Officer Public Fire Safety, QFRA
Viv Sakrzewski, QFRA
Dr Paul Barnes, QFRA
Susan Koch, Government Statistician’s Office
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
APPENDIX 2
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FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
94
APPENDIX 3
Carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) and smoke inhalation
The following example uses the Queensland fire fatality data. The table below shows the percentage
of COHb in the blood stream of victims where the cause of death was listed as smoke inhalation.
Percentage of COHb in blood stream of Qld victims where the cause of death
was listed as smoke inhalation
COHb in blood, %
0-9
10-19
20-29
30-39
40-49
50-59
60-69
70-79
80+
No carbon monoxide level recorded
Total number
No. of victims
5
1
2
7
6
4
9
4
3
5
46
Percentage
11%
2%
4%
15%
13%
9%
19%
9%
7%
11%
100%
In the cases where the cause of death listed for fire victims was smoke inhalation, 72 per cent of
victims had over 30 per cent carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) in their bloodstream. This level of concentration
of carbon monoxide would have had a marked effect on their ability to respond to the fire emergency.
It should be noted that none of these victims had a correctly installed smoke alarm in their properties. It
is critical that people be alerted early to the presence of fire in the home in order to safely evacuate the
property. Therefore, it is important that Fire Services reinforce both the need for residential smoke
alarms as well as a well-rehearsed evacuation plan in order to prevent the fire deaths that occur at the
vulnerable times when people are most likely to be sleeping.
Extracts from Scientific Services Laboratory Report
Analysis of a Dwelling Fire
Introduction
As the result of discussions with the Department
of Emergency Services, Scientific Services
Laboratory offered to conduct a study of a fire in
a residential dwelling, in which three people lost
their lives. The aim of the study was to apply
current fire safety engineering modelling
techniques to this actual event in order to recreate
as far as possible the conditions in the house
from fire ignition until the brigade arrival.
The study examined the development of lethal
conditions within the house arising from the fire
products and the opportunities for the occupants
to take appropriate avoidance action to effect
escape from the premises. Some of the more
specific aspects of the incident which were to be
assessed included:
•
•
•
estimated ignition time;
time elapsed between fire ignition and
internal conditions that could be deemed
lethal; and
estimated time of death of the occupants.
Fire incident details
In regard to the actual fire in the premises there
are few factual and some interpreted details
concerning the incident.
The fire was discovered by a neighbour who was
awakened by the sound of ‘a loud bang’. On
investigating the source of the noise the fire was
seen in the nearby property and the neighbour
called the fire service. This call was timed at 0132
hours. Fire brigade arrival at the premises was
timed at 0137 hours, at which point in time the
brigade reported that the house was
approximately 70 per cent involved in the fire.
The brigade were able to gain entry through the
front of the house at about 0200 hours
whereupon they discovered the bodies of three
persons who were pronounced dead at this time.
The bodies were not found in beds and were all
in the vicinity of the front verandah door in the
third bedroom created as a sleepout on the
verandah.
The subsequent investigations by the fire and
the police scientific services established, with a
high degree of certainty, that the fire started in
the electrical wiring associated with the power
supply to the television set in the lounge room.
The fire then spread via the curtains to the single
seat sofa. From there the fire spread principally
into the bathroom and dining areas. There was
considerable evidence of smoke and heat
damage in the front of the house where the
bedrooms were located though the principal fire
damage was observed in the lounge, bathroom
and dining areas.
It is postulated by the fire investigation team that
the fire was presumed to have had a slow build
up, with heavy sooting on the inner face of the
main entry door and elsewhere supporting the
assessment of a slow developing fire.
Significant details from the postmortem reports
on one of the victims were that the carbon
monoxide level in the blood was 59 per cent
COhb saturation and that the blood alcohol level
was 111 mg/100 ml.
Fire modelling
The smoke spread modelling was carried out
using a multi compartment zone model, CFAST
to plot both the spread of smoke and the
development of the toxic and thermal conditions
in the house.
The initial stages of the development of the fire
were recreated by employing data on the
published burning rates of items similar to those
which had been identified as being involved in
the fire ignition and initial stages of fire
development. Subsequent to this the fire was
presumed to grow in the manner of a t2 fire and
the maximum size of the fire was limited by the
ventilation conditions applied in the model.
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
APPENDIX 4
95
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
96
Scenarios were then developed to examine both
the impact of different rates of toxic species
production by the fire and the involvement of a
smouldering phase to the fire following ignition
and before a significant heat release rate
occurred.
A range of criteria for tenability in a fire were
investigated in order to predict the outcomes on
the occupants of the house These included
tenability due to toxic gases produced by the fire
and the thermal conditions generated by the heat
of the fire.
Using information concerning discovery of the
fire the modelling timelines were correlated with
the real time so that the actual times of occurrence
of events could be predicted.
Conclusion
From the evidence of the modelling undertaken,
it is estimated that the fire started about 0118
hours. It is possible that it could have started
sometime before this and had a very slow
smouldering incubation period. The length of
the incubation period can not be estimated. The
study involving an incubation period to the fire
did not lead to any different predicted outcomes.
Flashover is estimated to have occurred at about
0130 hours leading to the alarm being raised at
0132 hours.
Predictions of untenable conditions in the
bedrooms indicated these could have been
commenced to exist some 200 (approximately
0121 hours) seconds after ignition for the scenario
involving higher toxic species production and no
incubation or smouldering phase to the fire
development and 760 (approximately 0131 hours)
seconds after ignition for the scenario involving
the same toxic species production but including
an assumed 500 second incubation phase to the
fire development.
It is considered that the occupants were dead
before or very shortly after the flashover event
estimated to have occurred about 0130 hours,
before the fire brigade arrival at 0137 hours and
long before the brigade was able to effect an
entry to the burning building at 0200 hours.
Copies of the Fire Modelling Report are available
from Scientific Services Laboratory, Melbourne.
For further details please telephone (03) 9248
4900.
Bibliography
Audit Commission, (1995) In the Line of Fire, Value for Money in the Fire Service - A National Picture,
HMSO, United Kingdom.
Conley C. J. And Fahy R. F., (1994) Who Dies in Fatal Fires in the United States?, NFPA Journal May/June
issue pp.99-106.
Cropp D, (1991) Fatal Fires in New Zealand, Where, When and Why they Occur, New Zealand Fire
Service.
Department of Human Services and Health (1995) The Quantification of drug caused morbidity and
mortality in Australia, 1995 edition, Part1, pp1 - 262, Australian Government Publishing Service.
Hall J R & Harwood B (1995) Smoke or Burns Which is Deadlier?, NFPA Journal, USA, January 1997 pp 38
- 43.
Haugstad H (1990) Fatal Fire: A Case for Adult Education, Fire Engineering, June 1990, pp 43- 45.
Hirschler M (1993) Carbon monoxide and human lethality: fire and non-fire studies, Eisevier Science
Publishers, London, United Kingdom.
Hutton P. J., (1996) A Report into Fire Safety and Older People, West Midlands Fire Service, England.
King M, (1995) Australian Fire Incident Statistics 1992 - 1993, CSIRO Australia.
Narayanan P, (1995) Study Report No. 64 New Zealand Fire Risk Data, Building Research, Levy and the
Foundation for Research, Science and Technology from the Public Good Science Fund.
Nicolopoulos N (1996) Fires in the Home 1987 - 1995, NSW Fire Brigades Statistical Research Paper, NSW
Fire Brigades, Sydney.
Rieniets C (1993) A Submission to the AUBRCC Council and Building Control Ministers to seek support
of national legislation making it mandatory to install smoke detectors in new residentital buildings,
BRK Electronics, Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia..
Reynolds C (1996) Study into the Causes of Fire Deaths, Fire Research News, Issue 20, Winter 1996
pp5-7.
Runyan, Bangdiwala, Linzer, Sacks & Butts (1993) Risk Factors for Fatal Residential Fires, Fire Technology,
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Shaenman P., Stombaugh H., Rossomanda C., Jennings C. & Perroni C., (1990) Proving Public Education
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APPENDIX 5
Takahashi T (1992) Fire Death Analysis on the Basis Administrative Autopsy, Tokyo Fire Department,
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97
FIRE FATALITIES: WHO’S AT RISK? RESEARCH REPORT
98
APPENDIX 6
Definitions/Glossary
Alarm Time:
This is the exact time when the dispatcher of the attending Authority was
first notified of the incident by the public or other source.
Area of fire origin:
The area of fire origin is normally defined as the part of a room or vehicle
space where it has been determined by Fire Investigation Officers that the
fire started.
Brigade/Unit:
Brigade unit is the responding emergency vehicle complete with fire
crew.
Dwelling
Complex:
A residential home and everything within its property boundaries are
considered to be a dwelling complex.
Estimated percentage of property
involved on arrival
of the Fire Brigade:
This estimate which is made by the officer in charge of the first fire
appliance in attendance at an incident.
Flashover (in relation to a structure):
The conditions for flashover develop when a fire inside a building
involving any flammable solid (non liquid), releases sufficient flammable
vapours to enable them to burn in the air space. Usually the initial fire
burns slowly over a lengthy period during which internals of the premises
are pre-heated whilst the fire has consumed most of the available oxygen.
At a given point in time, the shattering of a super heated window or the
opening of a door causes an inrush of oxygen. and propagates the
ignition of all of the flammable vapour. Subsequent to the initial rapid
spread of fire which typifies a flashover development, expanding heated
gases often cause all of the windows and sometimes even wall structures
to be blown out. It is this destructive moment that is of greatest danger
to firefighters who are about to make entry into burning premises.
Fire
General reference to any type of fire brigade or service organised for the
purpose of firefighting.
Service:
Reporting
Structure:
Authority:
An authority or organisation that responds to and reports on fire and
related incidents. From the viewpoint of the reporting officer, it is his/her
service or organisation.
The type of structure, in terms of its configuration, in which the fire has
occurred. The type of structure will influence such factors as fire spread,
danger to occupants, firefighting and rescue operations.