Fall in fire fatalities and incidents attended by crews

06 February 2012

Posted by Samuel Couratin

The number of fire fatalities taking place between April and September 2011 declined by two to 149 year-on-year, according to new data.

Figures published by the Department for Communities and Local Government for England showed that Fire and Rescue Services attended a total of 322,000 fire and false alarm incidents during the period in question, a seven per cent fall compared with 2010.

Improved fire safety standards may have contributed to the improvement in call outs, with a four per cent decline reported in total fires to 131,000 over the six months and a ten per cent drop in attendances at false alarms to 129,000.

A total of two out of three false alarms were connected with automatic apparatus, while four per cent were recorded as malicious false alarms.

The Fire and Rescue Services also witnessed a four per cent year-on-year drop in deliberate fires started over the six months under analysis to 71,000.

However, the statistics also revealed there were two per cent more non-fatal fire casualties between April and September last year at 2,120.

In addition, the report noted there was a rise of several hundred in the number of deliberate fires recorded during August 2011 when civil disorder broke out in a number of cities across England.

Preparations are being made by the London Fire Brigade for this summer's 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The service has announced that it has transformed a building abandoned following the collapse of the failed FiReControl project in December 2010.

A new London Fire Brigade operations centre has now been opened on the site in Merton by Bob Neill, the UK's Fire Minister, Mayor of London Boris Johnson and Ron Dobson, the London Fire Commissioner.

The London Fire Brigade's control centre, its emergency planning team and the fire service's National Co-ordination Centre will all be housed in the facility to ensure that planning takes place under a single roof ahead of the international sporting contest.

In a move expected to save the organization £600,000, an agreement has been reached with the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Government is backing the centre by providing £2.25 million for a new 999 mobilizing system.

"With the eyes of the world on the city this year, it is essential that we have the systems in places so that our response to any incidents will be quick and robust," stated Mr Johnson.