Residential Fire Deaths Research Articles

Working Toward the Elimination of Residential Fire Deaths: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention??s Smoke Alarm Installation and Fire Safety Education (SAIFE) Program

To address residential fires and related injuries, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funds state health departments to deliver a Smoke Alarm Installation and Fire Safety Education (SAIFE) program in high-risk homes in 16 states. This program involves recruiting local communities and community partners, hiring a local coordinator, canvassing neighborhood homes, installing long-lasting lithium-powered smoke alarms, and providing general fire safety education and 6-month follow-up to determine alarm functionality. Local fire departments are vital community partners in delivering this program. Since the program's inception, more than 212,000 smoke alarms have been installed in more than 126,000 high-risk homes. Additionally, approximately 610 lives have potentially been saved as a result of a program alarm that provided early warning to a dangerous fire incident.

Victim Behaviours, Intentionality, AndDifferential Risks In Residential Fire Deaths

The majority of fire deaths in New Zealand occur in residential structures. These are seen as largely preventable and are a basis for fire safety and prevention strategies. While such strategies have emphasised technological and engineering solutions (i.e. smoke alarms, egress standards, building code reform), there has been a lesser consideration of victim behaviours as a key factor in fire safety and prevention. This paper reports on a study of behavioural factors in all unintentional residential fire deaths from 1997-2003 in which inquest reports were examined to determine a range of demographic, fire dynamic, forensic, and behavioural features in 131 cases. The results support other findings which highlight the potent role of victim behaviours in fire ignition and spread, and in fatal outcomes. Significant factors identified include alcohol consumption, acts of omission, carelessness, dangerous habitual behaviours, and consequences of disabilities. A dichotomy between intentional and unintentional fires was not supported, as several cases fell into a borderline group whose role in fire causation was established (although intent to harm was not). Features of this group included attention seeking, irrational behaviour, and diminished cognitive/intellectual capacities. Those identified as being differentially at most risk of residential fire deaths were the young, the elderly, the disabled, and lower socioeconomic groups. Effective safety and prevention strategies must address specific behavioural characteristics of these disparate groups, especially sociopsychological processes, attitudes, and cognitive patterns that contribute to elevated fire risks. The theoretical and applied implications of these findings are discussed as part of a wider approach to fire safety and prevention strategies.

Art and medicine 1: Health Hazards by Dr Jane Jackson

Paintings with a moral or educational theme were popular in the Victorian era—for example, works by George Frederick Watts and the pre-Raphaelites (notably William Holman Hunt). Art as the road to salvation went out of style in the 20th century, but the power of art to illustrate social wrongs or to promote healthy behaviours may be due for a revival. In the 2003 exhibition by the Medical Art Society, entries for the Brooke Epidemiology Art Prize, awarded by the Section of Epidemiology and Public Health, included Health Hazards by Dr Jane Jackson. Her prize-winning interpretation of the theme ‘inequalities’ was based on the Government review Tackling Health Inequalities (2002). We see a deceptively calm interior, brightly coloured in the original, which ‘becomes tragical if rightly read’, as the Victorian art critic John Ruskin observed of one of Hunt’s moral works. The room is a bizarre combination of cooker, cupboards, easy chair and deep-piled rug, with children and a mirror in the background portraying accidents about to happen, including a fire. Residential fire deaths for children are fifteen times more common in children from social class V than in those from social class I: children in social class V have also a five times greater risk of accidental death than their peers in social class I. All the figures in the picture are obese—a problem increasing more rapidly in lower socio-economic groups. The adults are heedless of the chubby children with their dangerous playthings, while the possibly drunk parent slumps indolently to one side. Granny teeters unsteadily towards us, a reminder that falls cause the largest numbers of fatal injuries in older people (62%), as well as disability. While all may turn out well in this surreal family scene, the statistics predict otherwise. An image of our times, Jane Jackson’s painting echoes past attempts to show links between health, behaviour and the environment.​environment. Figure 1

Fire Fatalities Among Children: An Analysis Across Philadelphia's Census Tracts

This study investigates the possible causes of high levels of residential fire deaths to children younger than 15 years of age in Philadelphia from 1989 to 2000. The authors analyzed 246 deaths from 146 residential fires by census tract in Philadelphia using both individual level data and aggregate level data drawn from the records of the Fire Marshall's Office. Death rates by age and sex were calculated using the 1990 Census. Data on fires from official records were combined with aggregate level data by census tract from the 1990 Census and analyzed using logistic regression. Newspaper articles on the fires analyzed were used to identify residences with possible fire code violations. The authors used data from the Philadelphia Bureau of Licenses and Inspections to provide evidence of code violations. The statistically significant variables that resulted from the logistic regression were census tracts in the highest quartile for low income households, census tracts in the highest quartile for single-parent households with children younger than age 18, census tracts in the highest quartile for houses built before 1939, and the number of children younger than 15 years of age in a census tract. Population characteristics by census tract are useful in identifying risk factors for residential fire deaths of children. Census tracts identified as at highest risk can provide fire prevention units with opportunities to take preventative measures such as the distribution of smoke detectors, and the education of residents about the dangers of careless smoking and planning for the rescue of children in the event of a fire.

Residential fire related deaths and injuries among children: fireplay, smoke alarms, and prevention

Background: The aim of the study was to describe the epidemiology of residential fire related deaths and injuries among children, and identify risk factors for these injuries through a linked...

Healthy children 2010: Implications for pediatric nursing practice

Healthy children 2010: Implications for pediatric nursing practice

Analysis of Residential Fire Deaths of Preschoolers, 1993–1996

Analysis of Residential Fire Deaths of Preschoolers, 1993–1996

Fire Injuries, Disasters, and Costs from Cigarettes and Cigarette Lights: A Global Overview

Background. Fires cause 1% of the global burden of disease. Fire (includes explosion) disasters have immense health, social, and environmental costs. We will provide initial estimates of overall U.S. and global fire tolls from smoking.Methods. We tabulated and summarized smoking-related fire and disaster tolls from published documents. We compared those tolls to U.S. fire, burn, and fire death rates per billion cigarettes extrapolated globally. Smoking-attributable percentages of adult and child access to cigarette lighter and match ignitions (lights), and resultant fires, burns, and deaths ignited by young children, were estimated from likely smoking-attributable lights usage. Cigarette plus cigarette lights fire tolls were multiplied times published and estimated fire costs.Results. Smoking is the leading cause of residential or total fire death in all eight countries with available statistics. Smoking is a leading cause of fires in many more countries. Cigarettes cause numerous fire disasters. Cigarette lights cause an estimated 100,000 U.S. and one million global, child-playing fires per year. Cigarette lights fire injuries likely rival U.S., and possibly global, cigarette fire injury numbers. Smoking causes an estimated 30% of U.S. and 10% of global fire death burdens. Smoking's estimated U.S. and global fire costs were $6.95 (sensitivity range $5.34–22.8) and $27.2 (sensitivity range $8.2–89.2) billion, respectively, in 1998 U.S. dollars.Conclusions. Smoking likely causes large global fire tolls. U.S. fire tolls have fallen when smoking decreased. Further reducing smoking can substantially reduce fire and disaster tolls.

Evaluation of three smoke detector promotion programs

Context: Seventy percent of U.S. residential fire deaths occur in homes without a working smoke detector. To help prevent residential fire deaths, many programs have distributed or installed detectors in unprotected homes. Because persons receiving a detector may not install it and because detector batteries require annual replacement, the enduring effectiveness of these programs may be questioned. Objective: We evaluated the long-term functional status of smoke detectors distributed to high-risk households in eight areas of Minnesota, Cherokee County (North Carolina), and Oklahoma City (Oklahoma). Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: Home visits were made to check the detectors that were distributed 3 to 4 years earlier. Participants: Randomly selected households from the three detector promotion programs. Main Out-come Measure: At least one working smoke detector. Results: Participation rates ranged from 72% to 82%. The percentage of evaluation households with at least one working detector ranged from 58% in Oklahoma to 73% in North Carolina. In 76% of households with nonworking detectors, the batteries were either missing or disconnected. When batteries in nonworking detectors were replaced, 83% of the detectors regained function. Conclusions: Future programs should consider distributing detectors that do not require annual battery changes or find effective ways to ensure that batteries are routinely replaced. Programs should also provide each household with the number of detectors needed to meet the most current recommended standard of the National Fire Protection Agency. The evaluation’s participation rates support the practicality of unannounced home visits to evaluate home injury prevention programs in high-risk groups.

Fatal Residential Fire Accidents in the Municipality of Copenhagen, 1991–1996

Background. The death rate for fatal fire accidents in Denmark has doubled since 1951, mostly due to an increase in the number of fire accidents associated with smoking. The most common cause of residential fire deaths in Denmark today is smoking, often combined with alcohol intoxication or handicap.Methods. This was a case-control study of fatal fire accidents in private homes in the municipality of Copenhagen from 1991 to 1996. The fatal fire accidents were identified from a police register, and the two non-fatal fire accidents registered immediately before and after each fatal fire were selected as a control group. Information about the circumstances surrounding the fires was derived from the police reports. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the risk associated with each variable after adjusting for confounders. The analysis was performed on the basis of the theoretical model in which the variables were part of a causal network.Results. The following five variables seemed to be of most importance: (1) localization of the victim close to the source of ignition (OR = 11), (2) physical handicaps (OR = 5), (3) chronic alcoholism (OR = 7), (4) clothing fires (OR = 24), and (5) alarm being given by a person not present at the scene of fire (OR =33). Preventive measures are discussed in the light of the results.

Residential smoke detector performance in the United States

Abstract The National Smoke Detector Project is a large public/private partnership sponsored by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the United States Fire Administration, National Fire Protection Association, and the Congressional Fire Services Institute. The major goal of the Project is to decrease the number of residential fire deaths in the US by increasing the number of working smoke detectors in homes. In support of this effort, in 1992 the CPSC conducted a national survey of the operability of smoke detectors in homes. The purpose of the Smoke Detector Operability Survey was to determine the extent of and reasons for non-working detectors in the general population of households. Detectors that did not respond to a test with standard aerosol smoke (initially or after power was restored) along with those with no power source and with which consumers experienced problems were collected and analyzed in the CPSC Engineering Laboratory. The data gathered from this survey (and a similar study of...

Newspapers: a source for injury surveillance?

Newspapers have not been extensively evaluated as an injury surveillance source. We compared clippings with medical examiner records for 45 residential fire deaths and 58 drownings of children to assess extent, completeness, and accuracy of newspaper coverage. Newspapers covered 96% of the fire fatalities and 78% of the drownings and contained more information than medical examiner records on several factors, including fire cause and smoke detector presence, pool fences, warning signs, and supervision of children.

Residential Fire Safety Needs of Older Adults

This paper concerns the fire safety needs of older people living in private residences. It includes consideration of the limitations of current consumer fire safety products (primarily smoke detectors) and design improvements that better meet the human factors requirements of this population. Older people suffer especially high residential fire death rates, and most of these deaths occur in private homes, where the resident/victim had primary responsibility for fire safety. The literature on human behavior during fires indicates certain differences in the behavior of older and younger adults, but this is based on limited data from often inappropriate populations (institutional settings). A review of currently available products, and their use, found that these products did not adequately meet the needs, nor match the capabilities, of older people. In fact, the need to climb to ceiling level to install, test, and maintain single station smoke alarms introduces a significant safety hazard of its own. Focus discussion groups of older homeowners identified various attitudes, problems, and behaviors, important for improved product design. A review of existing products and technologies identified various features which could benefit elderly users, and practical technologies that could be adapted from other applications (e.g., security systems). Based on the literature review, product/technology review, and focus groups, a set of fire-safety product needs and desirable features was developed, including a set of seventeen specific design features/functions. Substantial improvement in fire safety product usefulness for older users can be achieved in a cost-effective manner.

Deaths from Residential Fires among Older People, United States, 1984

Deaths from fires are the fifth leading cause of injury death among people aged 65 years or older. To describe the epidemiology of deaths from residential fires among older people, we analyzed mortality data for 1984 collected by the National Center for Health Statistics. Although older people represented only 12% of the U.S. population in 1984, they accounted for 29% (1,278) of that year's 4,466 residential fire deaths. Conflagrations accounted for 78% of older people's deaths from residential fires; clothing ignitions and other fires accounted for 11% each. Residential fire death rates increased with advancing age. Older black people had death rates 4.6 times the death rates of older white people. Older males had higher death rates than older females. Host, environmental, and behavioral risk factors for residential fire deaths among older people and potential strategies for intervention are discussed. Unless intervention strategies are focused on older people, the residential fire death toll in the U.S. may actually grow as the population of older people increases from 12% of the population in 1984 to about 21% of the population in 2030.

Review of Progress Towards the Development of an Upholstered Furniture Flammability Standard

Fires from upholstered furniture are the leading cause of residential fire deaths in the United States. The Amended Flammable Fabrics Act of 1967 allowed the federal government to evaluate and develop flammability stan dards in a number of fabric areas, including upholstered furniture. In 1973, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) began initial work towards a mandatory federal standard. Shortly thereafter, the furniture industry formed the Upholstered Furniture Action Council (UFAC). Several states have mean while adopted certain upholstered furniture flammability standards. In 1979, the CPSC postponed implementation of their proposed standard to allow the UFAC to develop their voluntary program. The CPSC and UFAC began a coop erative effort to find ways of improving the cigarette ignition resistance of upholstered furniture. Among those, the use of heat conducting welt cords has proven very promising. Although budgetary reasons forced the CPSC to end their upholstered furniture project in 1986, the UFAC remains committed to find ways for reducing cigarette ignition of upholstered furniture.

The Cigarette Safety Bill: A Case Study in Injury Control Advocacy

ra 6 IGARETTE S kill people in two distinct ways: one > way is slow; the other, rapid. Slow deaths occur by cancer, heart disease and lung disease. The less frequently g t 3 discussed rapid deaths occur to about 2300 Americans each year in housefires. These lives are lost and others are physically and emotionally scarred by cigarettes and little cigars that do not have reduced heating capacity or do not burn out when left unattended. The unattended lit cigarette or little cigar frequently comes in contact with upholstered ftrniture, mattresses or bedding and creates a smoldering fire that becomes a deadly inferno. This tragic scenario repeats itself year after year in every state throughout the country, with the result that smoking is the leading cause of residential fire deaths and injuries. Aimed at ending this preventable human suffering, cigarette safety legislation has been introduced in the United States Congress and in ten state legislatures. Generally, the bills seek to have established a standard for cigarettes and little cigars which would lower their propensity to ignite housefires. Although these several bills are generally similar, their content varies in some important areas. For example, the standards themselves are differently defined, and there are variations in terms of who is authorized to promulgate the standard. The Injury Control Council of the National Association for Public Health Policy (NAPHP) undertook an analysis of the cigarette safety issue and the bills designed to address that issue. A prototype bill was prepared which was subsequently introduced in the Maryland State Legislature. What follows is the text of that bill with a section by section analysis. It is offered both for use (with modification where necessary) in other states, and as an example of the ability of a public health advocacy group to address the risk of death of thousands by a relatively simple piece of legislation.