Fires in the Home, 2008: Results from the Living in Wales Surveys

Fire and fire safety statistics from the Living in Wales surveys include data for Wales for 2004, 2005 and 2008. This is a new bulletin providing further information on statistics previously released on 30 April 2009 and it is not a regular output. This bulletin serves as a useful supplement to the official statistics as it includes details of fires not attended by the Fire and Rescue Services and enables those households at highest risk of experiencing a fire to be identified.

Key findings

• In 2008, 1.2 per cent of households reported a fire in the home or around 15,000 households. This remained stable compared with previous surveys.
• 10 per cent of all households did not have any fully working smoke alarms in 2008. The proportion decreased significantly from 12 per cent in 2005 and 14 per cent in 2004.
• Over the same period, a higher proportion of households had installed more smoke alarms within the property. 61 per cent of households possessed two or more fully working alarms in 2008 compared with 54 per cent in 2004.
• 28 per cent of all smoke alarms were mains powered in 2008, a highly significant increase of 2 per cent since 2004.
• Over 9 out of every 10 fully working smoke alarms were reported to have been tested in the last 12 months in every year the data was collected.
• The Fire and Rescue Service was called to 64 per cent of domestic fires in 2008, compared to 54 per cent in 2004.
• Higher risk factors for fires are living in social or rented accommodation and having dependent children or younger adults in the household.

Contact

Tel: 029 2080 1257
E-mail: stats.inclusion@wales.gsi.gov.uk