Fires attended fall 55% in a decade, new stats show

Fire services in England attended 102,000 fires between April and September 2013 – 55% fewer than in the same period in 2003.

Overall, there were 140 fire fatalities in the period April to September 2013 – 33% lower than the same period in 2003, and lower than in any other year apart from 2012 and 2008.

Other key findings include:
• There were 94 deaths in accidental dwelling fires in England between April and September 2013. This is 17% lower than in the same period of 2003. It is similar to the number in April to September of 2009, 2010 and 2011, but 29 more than in 2012.
• There were 1,664 non-fatal casualties that required hospital treatment in fires in England between April and September 2013, 7% fewer than in the same period of 2012.
• Local authority fire and rescue services attended 115,000 fire false alarms between April and September 2013, 5% fewer than in the same period of 2012.
• Local authority fire and rescue services attended 61,800 non-fire incidents in England between April and September 2013. The most common types of non-fire incidents are road traffic collisions (21%), effecting entry or exit (13%), lift release (10%), medical incidents (10%) and flooding (9%).

The fall in the number of fire-related casualties is attributed to successful fire safety information and prevention techniques, including the installation of smoke alarms, building fire safety systems and fire safety campaigns.