Citation

Ducic S, Ghezzo HR. Accid. Anal. Prev. 1980; 12(1): 67-73.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1980, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Accidental home fires usually start in areas of the dwelling where people spend most of their time. The most frequent causes of fires are related to the activities of the residents, smoking being the most common. Persons who have home fires are, on average, younger than their controls, have more children, smoke in bed more and stay at home less often during the day. Typically, they live in apartment buildings where there has already been a fire, have less space available, but enjoy more fire protection than the controls. Home fires have characteristic seasonal, weekly and hourly distributions, as well as preponderance for older areas of the city. They are usually discovered by residents, smoke leading to detection in most cases, and most often occupants use their own telephones to alert firemen. This happens "immediately" after the discovery and the firemen are at the scene within 10 minutes in 90% of all instances. Extent of damage seems to be dependant on the time that elapses between the onset and the discovery of fires. No single variable can explain the occurences of accidental home fires. Yet, there appears to exist a person-building susceptible profile in which personal characteristics take precedence. Smoke detectors should become mandatory. Anti-smoking efforts should be enhanced. More care is needed when designing electrical power supplies in dwellings.