This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Fire statistics
15/04/2004
Deaths from fire in Scotland decreased by a fifth in
2002 according to new statistics published today.
The latest fire statistical bulletin shows that fatal
fire casualties decreased from 96 in 2001 to 77 in 2002.
Rates of death from fire per million population also
improved and while still remaining higher than the rest of
the UK, the gap narrowed.
There were 15 deaths per million population in Scotland
in 2002, compared to nine per million in England, 10 per
million in Wales and 12 per million in Northern Ireland.
This compares with 2001 when Scotland had nearly twice the
fatal casualty rate of other UK countries.
Rates of fire deaths per 1,000 home fires were similar
to those elsewhere in the UK. This suggests that the reason
for Scotland's higher fatality rate per million population
is due to a higher risk of fires in the home rather than a
greater likelihood of deaths in such fires.
Other main findings include:
* There were 52,600 total fires (primary, secondary and
chimney) in Scotland in 2002, a decrease of 11 per cent on
the 59,400 fires recorded in 2001.
* Around one-third of all fires were primary fires.
Sixty-three per cent of primary fires were in buildings, 30
per cent were road vehicle fires and the remaining primary
fires were other outdoors fires. Just under three-fifths
(59 per cent) of all fires were secondary fires and the
remaining five per cent were chimney fires.
* Since 2001, primary fires have fallen by three per
cent, secondary fires by 15 per cent and chimney fires by
28 per cent in 2002.
* Sixty-three fatal casualties (82 per cent) occurred in
dwelling fires and seven (nine per cent) were in road
vehicles.
* The principal cause of death was being overcome by gas
and smoke - 46 fatal casualties. A further 13 deaths were
caused by burns alone, and 12 by a combination of burns and
being overcome by smoke.
* The number of non-fatal casualties in 2002 was 2,045,
a decrease of two per cent per cent compared with 2001.
* Since 1994 the majority of fatal casualties have
occurred in house fires where there was either no smoke
detector or the smoke detector failed to operate.
* There were 8,793 deliberate primary fires in 2002,
representing 46 per cent of total primary fires in 2002 -
the highest percentage of primary fires in the last 10
years. The pattern of accidental fires causing
significantly more fatal and non-fatal casualties than
deliberate fires has held throughout the past decade.
* In 2002 there were 54,077 false alarms, representing
just over half (51 per cent) of all call outs.
This is the third Scottish Executive fire statistics
bulletin and is based on information from the country's
eight fire brigades. This bulletin is intended to provide a
detailed overview of Scottish fire statistics during the
past decade, at brigade and national level, compared to
other UK countries.
Due to the fire dispute in November 2002, the reporting
of fires for these days was disrupted. In total, 10
24-hour periods were affected; from 6pm on November 13 to
6pm on November 15 and from 9am on November 22 to 9am on
November 30. Some information relating to this period has
been received via data collected by the Ministry of Defence
and from special summary reports submitted by some
brigades. In order to present the most accurate picture of
the fires, casualties and false alarms which occurred in
2002, estimates have been incorporated in this publication
to account for the missing information in November.
Location is a term used in the bulletin to denote a
combination of the type of fire ("primary", "secondary" and
"chimney") and the type of place where the fire started,
for example house, countryside.
Primary fires: If a fire involves a casualty or rescue,
or is attended by five or more appliances then it is
classed as a primary fire, regardless of its actual
location. A fire may also be classed as primary if it
occurs in any of the following - buildings (not derelict,
not under demolition); caravans; vehicles and other methods
or transport (not derelict); outdoor storage, plant and
machinery or agricultural or forestry premises and
property.
Secondary fires: These involve no casualties or
rescues and are attended by four or fewer appliances. A
fire is also not classed as secondary if it is a chimney
fire (defined below).
Chimney fires: These always involve no casualties or
rescues, and are attended by four or fewer fire engines.
They only occur in occupied buildings where the fire was
contained within the chimney structure.
This is a Scottish Executive National Statistics
publication. National statistics are produced to high
professional standards set out in the National Statistics
Code of Practice. They undergo regular quality assurance
reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs. They are
produced free from any political interference.