Factors affecting the incidence and impact of residential fires: 2015-2016 update

Fires are a major public safety problem, and can have devastating consequences including injuries, fatalities, and loss of property or infrastructure. Fires in the home present a particular hazard, accounting for the majority of fire-related fatalities, despite occurring in a location where most people feel safe and secure. Using CFA’s Fire and Incident Reporting (FIRS) data, the current project aimed to update previous analyses using an additional two years of data. The analyses aimed to answer two specific questions: (1) what do CFA data reveal about the causal factors influencing the incidence of residential fires?; and (2) what do CFA data reveal about the risk factors influencing the impact of residential fires?

Several socio-demographic variables were found to be related to fire incident risk. In terms of the rate per population, fire incident risk increased when: (1) the percentage of homes rented publicly increased; (2) the percentage of dwellings occupied only by those aged 65 years and over increased; and (3) the percentage of dwellings occupied only by unemployed persons increased. Fire incident risk decreased when the percentage of homes with a high equivalised income increased, and (2) the percentage of homes where occupants had moved in the last five years increased. In terms of the rate per number of homes, fire incident risk increased when: (1) the percentage of publicly rented dwellings increased; and (2) the percentage of dwellings occupied only by unemployed persons increased. In contrast, fire incident risk decreased when: (1) the percentage of homes where occupants had moved in the last five years increased; (2) the percentage of homes with a high equivalised income increased; and (3) the percentage of dwellings occupied only by those aged 65 years and over increased.

The analyses found that various factors were related to fire impact (extending beyond the room of origin or higher estimated dollar loss). Fire impact was greater for: timber construction and cladding with brick veneer); suspicious or failure to clean fires (such as fouled flue) when compared with operational deficiency (unattended) fires; and air conditioning or refrigeration equipment (compared to cooking equipment). Impact was greater when smoke alarms were not present, and when fires started in sleeping rooms.(compared with brick veneer); suspicious or failure to clean fires (such as fouled flue) when compared with operational deficiency (unattended) fires; and air conditioning or refrigeration equipment (compared to cooking equipment). Impact was greater when smoke alarms were not present, and when fires started in sleeping rooms.

These results contribute to an evidence base that can be used by CFA when designing strategies and interventions to mitigate the effects of residential fires on communities.