National Fire Prevention Week Slogan – Prevent Home Fires
Cool mornings, serving as a reminder that low temperatures will soon be the norm.
Despite cool nights, many people are reluctant to turn up their home’s thermostats, thinking of the high price of heating oil or, for those whose homes have electric heat, the soon-to-rise cost of electricity.
The winter months have always been a prime time for house fires, as people often turn to supplemental heating sources.
There’s little doubt that electric space heaters, fireplaces, kerosene heaters and wood stoves will be more popular than ever this winter as families try to cope with heating bills that have soared since last year.
Unfortunately, people often forget to keep space heaters away from combustible things like curtains and furniture. They also neglect to have the chimneys of their fireplaces cleaned and don’t have pre-season maintenance checks done on their oil and coal furnaces.
As part of this week’s Fire Prevention Week observance, fire departments are holding programs in communities and schools throughout the US.
A home or apartment without smoke and carbon monoxide detectors on every level is a tragedy waiting to happen.
Carbon monoxide, released when fossil fuels aren’t burned completely, is a silent killer. It has no color or odor, so its victims don’t know they are being poisoned.
However, even the best carbon monoxide or smoke detector is only as good as its batteries. If they no longer work, neither will the units the home’s occupants depend on.
Check the detectors’ batteries regularly. A good time to do so is in the spring and fall when it’s time to change the clocks.
Daylight-saving time ends Sunday, Nov. 2, so when moving the clocks back an hour that Saturday night, change the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors’ batteries as well.
It’s also a good time to review or set up a family evacuation plan in case a fire does occur.
The 2007 U.S. fire loss clock
- A fire department responded to a fire every20 seconds.
- One structure fire was reported every 59 seconds.
- One home structure fire was reported every 79 seconds
- One civilian fire injury was reported every30 minutes.
- One civilian fire death occurred every 2 hours and33 minutes.
- One outside fire was reported every 41 seconds.
- One vehicle fire was reported every 122 seconds.
In 2007, there were1,557,500firesreported in the United States (down 5% from 2006). These fires caused 3,430 civilian deaths, 17,675 civilian injuries, and $14.6 billion in property damage.
- 530,500 were structure fires(up 1% from 2006), causing3,000 civilian deaths, 15,350 civilianinjuries, and $10.6 billion in property damage.
- 258,000 were vehicle fires (down 7% from 2006), causing385 civilian fire deaths, 1,675 civilian fire injuries, and $1.4 billion in property damage.
- 769,000were outside and other fires (down 9% from 2006), causing 45 civilian fire deaths, 650 civilian fire injuries, and $0.8 billion in property damage.
U.S. homestructure fires
In 2007, U.S. fire departments responded to399,000 home structure1 fires. These fires caused 13,600 civilian injuries,2,865 civilian deaths,$7.4 billion in direct damage.
- 84% of all civilian fire deaths resulted from home structure fires.
- Cooking is the leading cause of home structure fires and home fire injuries.
- Kitchens are the leading area of origin for home structure fires (40%) and civilian home fire injuries (36%).
- Only 4% of home fires started in the living room, family room, or den; these fires caused 24% of home fire deaths.
- 8% of reported home fires started in the bedroom. These fires caused 24% of home fire deaths, 21% of home fire injuries, and 15% of the direct property damage.
- Smoking isa leading cause of civilian home fire deaths.
- December and January were the peak month for reported home structure fires and home fire deaths.
- Almost two-thirds (65%) of reported home fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms.
- Most fatal fires kill one or two people. In 2007, 16 home fires killed five or more people. These 16 fires resulted in 104deaths.