NFPA Publishes

Home Structure Fire Report

NFPA's latest Home Structure Fires report provides data
over a 5-year period. According to the report, U.S. fire
departments responded to an average of more than 366,000
home structure fires each year from 2007 to 2011, resulting in
an average of seven deaths per day.
Approximately one of every 320 households per year had a
reported home fire during the 5-year period. The fires caused
an estimated annual average of 2,570 deaths and 13,210 inju-
ries to civilians, and $7.2 billion in direct property damage.
Other findings include:
25% of home fire deaths resulted fiom fires starfing in the
bedroom; 24% in the family room, living room or den; 16%
in the kitchen.
71% of the reported home structure fires and 84% of the
home fire deaths occurred in one- or two-family homes,
including manufactured homes. The remainder occurred in
apartments or other multifamily housing.
Cooking equipment is the leading cause of home struc-
ture fires and nonfatal home fire injuries; smoking materials
are still the leading cause of home fire deaths.
Older adults were the age group most likely to die in a
home fire.
Three out of five home fire deaths resulted from fires in
which no smoke alarms were present or in which smoke
alarms were present but did not operate.
According to NFPA, the report demonstrates the impor-
tance of smoke alarms and fire sprinklers, which reduce fhe
risk of dying in a home fire by 50% and 83%, respectively.
Published annually, the report is designed to promote
better understanding of how home fires occur and the factors
that contribute to injury or death so that better ways of pre-
venting such incidents can be found. Download the report
from www.nfpa.org/assets/files/pdf/os.homes.pdf.
New Device to Detect
Inhaled Air Pollution
Conscious Clothing System, a breathing analysis tool,
will soon be available for personal use, giving consumers the
chance to calculate how much particulate matter they are
inhaling. The system uses conductive groove strips made of
a stretchy knitted material that wrap around the ribcage to
measure breath volume. The system collects and transmits
data via Bluetooth to any Bluetooth-capable device.
The system recently won the My Air, My Health Challenge
conducted by EPA, Nafional Institutes of Health (NIH) and Of-
fice of the National Coordinator for Health Information Tech-
nology of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Find more information at www.ishn.com/articles/96039-new
-personal-air-pollution-sensor-wins-lOOk-award.
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