Official Statistics

Fire-related fatalities dataset guidance

Updated 23 August 2024

Applies to England

Publishing Incident Recording System data on the fire and rescue service at an incident level:

Frequency of release: Annual

First publication: 8 February 2018

Latest update: 25 July 2024

Forthcoming releases: Home Office statistics release calendar

Home Office responsible statistician: Helene Clark

Press enquiries: [email protected]

Telephone: 0300 123 3535

Public enquiries: [email protected]

1. Background

Data quality

Incident records in the Incident Recording System (IRS) are the responsibility of and quality assured by fire and rescue services (FRSs). The Home Office and FRSs work together to improve the data within the IRS and minimise any inconsistencies or errors. However, as the IRS was not designed with record level datasets in mind, a very small number of previously unidentified inconsistencies have been discovered (see project overview for further detail).

IRS incident records are a judgement call of the lead fire officer at the time of the incident. The quality of the information provided by fire and rescue services is variable and its accuracy cannot be guaranteed, especially at a record level, for instance some records involve estimation by those in attendance.

Dataset rationale

Fire-related fatalities were mentioned in a user survey carried out to gather views on the most useful datasets to publish. There is also a clear public good in being able to analyse details on the causes of fire-related fatalities. The Home Office has, and will continue to, engage with stakeholders, such as statistical users and FRSs, to gauge opinion on other datasets to publish.

Dataset definition

Fire-related fatalities are those that would not have otherwise occurred had there not been a fire. Those where the role of fire in the fatality was “not known” are included in “fire-related”. Fire-related fatalities includes those who died later, for example in hospital, from injuries related to the fire. Fire-related fatalities include natural causes, such as a heart attack, where brought on by the fire but do not include, for example, a suicide from exhaust fumes where the car later caught fire.

Information on fatalities in non-fire incidents are not included in this dataset.

These records, when aggregated, also match the published statistics as these statistics are for fire-related fatalities in fires.

The data in this dataset is consistent with records that reached the IRS by 15 May 2024. The Home Office only has jurisdiction for fire policy in England, and therefore has published incident data for England only.

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2. Variable by variable - scene setting

Variable Name: FINANCIAL_YEAR
Variable Description: The financial year the fire took place
IRS Question: 2.1 (based on)

A financial year runs from 1 April to 31 March. Record level information is published from financial year 2010 to 2011 - although the IRS began in April 2009 there are a few minor issues with the financial year 2009 to 2010 records which mean that while statistics at higher levels are robust some of the incident level records are not of a sufficient quality to publish. Incidents are allocated to financial year depending on the time of the call, which is usually collected through automatic systems, so for example an incident where the call was made at 23:59 on 31 March 2010 but the incident was closed at 01:34 on 1 April 2010 would be allocated to financial year 2009 to 2010 not financial year 2010 to 2011.

Variable Name: HOUR_BAND
Variable Description: The hour of the day the fire took place
IRS Question: 2.1 (based on)

Incidents are allocated to the hour band of the day (for example, 00 to 01, 01 to 02) depending on the time of the call, which is usually collected through automatic systems, so for example an incident where the call was made at 23.59 but the incident was closed at 01.34 on April 1 2010 would be allocated to “23 to 00” not “00 to 01”.

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3. Variable by variable - situation

Variable Name: INCIDENT_LOCATION_TYPE
Variable Description: The type of location the incident occurred in
IRS Question: 3.2

Fire incidents are categorised into one of the four following locations - “dwelling”, “other building”, “road vehicle” or “other outdoors”.

A dwelling is defined as “a property that is a place of residence, that is, occupied by households”. The definition includes residential homes, sheltered accommodation, caravans, houseboats and houses of multiple occupancy (HMO). However, it does not include hostels, hotels and residential institutions, bed and breakfast establishments, nursing/care homes and student halls of residence, which are defined as within “other buildings”. Fires in common areas of flats (such as stairs) are defined as within “dwellings”.

Variable Name: ALARM_SYSTEM
Variable Description: Whether a smoke alarm was present and if it operated.
IRS Question: Combination of 5.8 and 5.11

In a case where more than one alarm system was present the “best” case is chosen, that is, “Alarm present and raised the alarm” is the best case, “Alarm present but did not raise alarm” is the second best case, “Alarm present but did not operate” is the third best case and “Alarm absent” is the worst case. This is not applicable to some vehicle and outdoor fires as the question is only asked of primary building fires, so these are marked as “Alarm absent”.

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4. Variable by variable - the fire

Variable Name: ACCIDENTAL_OR_DELIBERATE
Variable Description: Whether the incident was recorded as an accidental or deliberate fire
IRS Question: 5.15

A deliberate fire is a fire believed to have been started deliberately such as suspected arson and some fires started by children, psychiatric patients, suicides and attempted suicides. Accidental fires include those where the motive was recorded as “not known”. Whilst we would not expect the fires for “deliberate fires” to match precisely the published figures for arson in the tables from the Crime in England and Wales statistical release, we would expect deliberate fires for dwellings, ‘other buildings’ and vehicles to be similar to the arson figures.

Variable Name: CAUSE_OF_FIRE
Variable Description: The main cause of the fire
IRS Question: 8.1

This variable contains options that best describe the main cause of the fire. FRSs are not necessarily certain that the fire was due to the cause given, only that the cause was one that could be reasonably supposed, given the evidence available. The cause may change as more evidence through a fire investigation becomes available.

Variable Name: SOURCE_OF_IGNITION
Variable Description: The source of ignition for the fire
IRS Question: 8.4

This variable contains options that best describe the source of ignition for the fire. FRSs are not necessarily certain what the source of ignition for the fire is, only that the source of ignition was one that could be reasonably supposed, given the evidence available. The source of ignition may change as more evidence through a fire investigation becomes available.

Variable Name: FIRE_START_LOCATION
Variable Description: The type of compartment the fire started in
IRS Question: 8.14

This variable contains options that best describe the room or compartment where the fire started.

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5. Variable by variable - victim details

Variable Name: VICTIM_LOCATION_START
Variable Description: Where the victim was when the fire started
IRS Question: 9.10

The options for this variable are “Room, cabin or compartment of fire origin”, “Different floor, room, cabin or compartment than of fire origin” and “Other, unknown or not applicable”.

Variable Name: VICTIM_LOCATION_FOUND
Variable Description: Where the victim was when they were found
IRS Question: 9.11

The options for this variable are “Room, cabin or compartment of fire origin”, “Different floor, room, cabin or compartment than of fire origin” and “Other, unknown or not applicable”.

Variable Name: VICTIM_AGE
Variable Description: The age of the victim
IRS Question: 9.7

The age of the victim is sometimes unknown and sometimes estimated. To reduce personal data risk, ages are grouped into bands. The options for this variable are “Under 1”, “1 to 5”, “6 to 10”, “11 to 16”, “17 to 24”, “25 to 39”, “40 to 54”, “55 to 64”, “65 to 79”, “80 and over” and “Unspecified”.

Variable Name: VICTIM_GENDER
Variable Description: The gender of the victim
IRS Question: 9.8

The gender of the victim is sometimes unknown. The options for this variable are “Female”, “Male” and “Not known”.

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6. Variable by variable - outcomes

Variable Name: FATALITY_CIRCUMSTANCES_DESCRIPTION
Variable Description: The circumstances of the fatality
IRS Question: 9.20

This variable shows the option that best corresponds to the circumstances surrounding the death of the victim. The options for this variable are “Thought to be already dead when Firefighter arrived”, “Unable to resuscitate, confirmed dead at scene”, “Unable to resuscitate at scene, confirmed dead at hospital”, “Alive on leaving scene, but died later” and “Not known”.

Variable Name: FATALITY_CAUSE
Variable Description: The cause of the fatality
IRS Question: 9.22

This variable shows the option that best corresponds to the victim’s cause of death. The options for this variable are “Combination of burns and overcome by gas/smoke”, “Overcome by gas or smoke”, “Burns”, “Other” and “Not known”.

Other includes Back/Neck injury, Chest/Abdominal injury, Chest pain/Heart condition/Cardiac arrest, Cuts/Lacerations, Drowning, Fracture, Head injury, Heat exhaustion, Hypothermia, Impalement, Other, Other medical condition, Other physical injury and Shock/anaphylactic shock.

Variable Name: FATALITY_TOTAL
Variable Description: Whether the incident involved more than one fire-related fatality
IRS Question: 9.6

The options for this variable are “Single fatality incident” and “Multiple fatality incident”. For a fuller definition of “fire-related fatality” please see section 1.