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Approximately 80%-90% of all fire-related fatalities take place in residential occupancies. The risk groups are well known, but the effectiveness of different measures has been less investigated. In this article, fire investigations from 144 unintentional fatal residential fires have been systematically analyzed and technical measures that would have been effective in preventing each fatality have been identified. The result shows that, generally, a thermally activated suppression system (e.g. sprinkler) has the highest potential effectiveness (68%) followed by a detector-activated system in bedroom and living room (59%) or smoke alarm (37%). For smokers with home care, however, the potential effectiveness of a thermally activated suppression system and home smoke alarm was significantly lower (31% and 14%, respectively). This indicates that different measures are effective for different groups. In one-fifth of the cases, the victim could have evacuated but chose not to do so, primarily to attempt to extinguish the fire.

This study examines temporal trends in deaths due to fire-related accidents in Sweden from 1952 to 2013 based on statistics in the Cause of Death register held by the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare. Fatalities coded with underlying cause of death associated with fire-related accidents are included and absolute numbers and age-adjusted mortality rates are calculated and statistically analysed for trends using Poisson regression. The results show a significant reduction in both absolute numbers and in the age-adjusted mortality rate with a decline in absolute number of deaths of 34% over the period. However, the elderly population (80+ years) showed a significant increase in absolute numbers. Regarding the age-adjusted mortality rate, a significant reduction of 63% was observed and children aged 0 to 4 years showed the largest decrease (91%). A reduction was seen both in terms of fatalities due to burns and carbon monoxide poisoning, although the reduction was more pronounced with regards to burns (69% compared to 46%). Although an overall decrease was observed in both absolute numbers and in the age-adjusted mortality rate, with an aging population, the absolute numbers of fire-related deaths for the elderly population will most likely increase in the future. Therefore, whilst previously a child-injury issue, fire-related deaths in Sweden is now predominantly an issue of safety for the elderly. In combination with more deaths now being attributed to carbon monoxide poisoning, new preventative strategies may be required.

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