Citation

Hall JR. Fire Technol. 2004; 40(2): 117-126.

Affiliation

Fire Analysis and Research Division, NFPA, Quincy, MA 02269-9101, USA

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1023/B:FIRE.0000016839.11376.b3

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

How many of the recorded US home fire deaths and injuries were people who could have avoided harm if they had more time to escape? This does not ask how many of these victims could be saved by all means available. It asks how many could be saved solely by means that extend the time available for escape. Analysis indicates that roughly half of the deaths and roughly two-thirds of the injuries could be prevented were the times to incapacitating exposures lengthened sufficiently to result in a more favorable outcome. Even for this group, many victims were asleep when fatally injured and would have needed help they did not receive in order to awaken, e.g., an operational smoke alarm, but would not likely have gained any additional usable time through changes to the fire timeline alone.