The provisional number of fire related deaths in the UK fell to 566 in the year ending September 2004, from 598 in the previous year.
In this category, there were 351 deaths from accidental fires in dwellings, compared to 396 a year earlier. Injuries resulting from fires fell by 6% to 14,800 (of these 10,200 were in accidental fires in dwellings). In England, 436 fire deaths and 11,700 injuries were recorded.
The UK fire and rescue service attended over 940,000 fires or false alarms (755,000 in England) in the 12 month period up to 30 September 2004 – 13% less than in the previous year. The total number of fires attended fell by 20% to 484,700. Within this total, the number of primary fires (fires involving property, vehicles and/or casualties) fell by 13% to 188,500 – the lowest since 1990.
There were 60,900 fires in the home, a fall of 5%, compared with the previous year. In England, there were 383,200 fires consisting of 156,400 primary fires (of which, 48,800 were in dwellings) and 220,400 secondary fires.
False alarms
The number of false fire alarms attended in the UK fell by 5% to 455,400. In this category, the number of malicious false alarms fell by 14% to 52,300 while false alarms due to apparatus remained fairly constant at 285,000. In England, a total of 371,600 false alarms were attended.
