Governor David Gibson would like to thank Anthony for providing an update in respect of fire statistics relating to the UK
Anthony Walker FRICS MIFireE, Director at Topscan UK Ltd and RICS UK and Ireland World Regional Board member
Fire Safety: Fire Statistics
The latest Fire Statistics published by the UK Home Office are available at Fire Statistics
Whilst there is still much to do to improve fire safety with lots of work taking place at the moment, the statistics highlight the improvements that have been made in particular over the last 30 years:
Fire by type: in 1999/00 there were 386,027 of which 182,570 were primary fires, in 2019/20 there were 153,957 (60% less than 99/00) and 68,677 (62% less than 99/00) respectively Fire related fatalities: in 1999/00 there were 485 fatalities of which 343 were in dwellings, in 2019/20 there were 243 (50% less than 99/00) and 199 (42% less than 99/00) respectively.
Whilst the number of Fire related fatalities has reduced overall by half, 82% of fatalities in 19/20 were in dwellings, which is a higher figure than 99/00 when it was 71%. So whilst the number of fatalities has dropped, the figures highlight the areas of focus to improve them further.