- Author
-
National Fire Protection Association
- Title
- Socioeconomic Factors and Fire.
- Coporate
- National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, MA
- Report
-
USS75-01
December 2008
17 p.
- Keywords
-
social learning element
|
fire statistics
|
human factors engineering
|
children
|
adults
|
death
|
injuries
|
fire fatalities
- Identifiers
- age group, race, region and community size; non-fatal fire injury
- Abstract
- The risk of fire death and injury varies by age group, race, region, and community size. Children under five and adults 65 or older face the highest risk of fire death, although they do not account for the majority of fire fatalities. The risk of non-fatal fire injury is higher for those between 18 and 64, inclusive. Higher fire death rates are seen in states with larger percentages of people who possess one or more of the following characteristics: are black, poor, smoke, have less formal education, or who live in rural areas. Children account for almost twice the share of black victims as white. In more affluent areas, race played less of a role. The South and Midwest had the highest fire death rates per million population in 2002-2006. The rate in the rural South was the highest by far.