- Author
- Hall, J. R., Jr.
- Title
- Characteristics of Home Fire Victims.
- Coporate
- National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, MA
- Report
- NFPA No. USS01, July 2008, 105 p.
- Keywords
- home fires | fire statistics | fire data | children | adults | residential buildings | burns (injuries) | death | injuries | smoke inhalation | risks | factors | ignition | human factors engineering | costs | elderly persons
- Identifiers
- older adults
- Abstract
- This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the fatal and non-fatal victims of home fires, with information about victim age, sex, race, and region. Relative risk is also addressed, and additional information is provided about the relative importance of socioeconomic factors in predicting differences in the risk of fire and fire death. This report also discusses leading fire causes and risk factors such as activity when injured, victim location, and factors contributing to injury. Children under age 5 are one and a half times as likely to die in a home fire as the average person, but their relative risk has been declining over time. Older adults age 65 and older are more than twice as likely to die in home fires as the average person. Alcohol or other drugs, disabilities and age-related limitations are all factors in the risk of home fire death.