Every day in Europe there are about 12 fire victims and 120 people severely injured and the World Health Organisation reports that there are approximately 300,000 deaths per year, globally from fire-related burns^[1].
Those most at risk are the very young and the elderly because they are least able to escape in the event of a fire.

It is reported that at least 94% of these fires deaths (Table 1.) occurred in homes and buildings and 5% occurred on our transport systems ^[3].

It is important to note that each country collects fire statistics data using its own method and these vary for each individual country. There are no European standards for gathering, analyzing and publicizing data on fire statistics and those published only give information about the fires that have been reported to each national statistics research bureau.

The total direct and indirect cost of fires, including economic consequences of deaths and injuries, is estimated to be around 1% of GDP in the developed world.

In the USA in 2009, over 1.3 million fires were attended by public fire services, which resulted in 3,010 civilian deaths and 17,050 civilian injuries ^[4]. In the UK (2010-2011), there were 321 fire deaths (212 in accidental dwelling fires) and 7,400 fire casualties in total. 36,000 fires occurred in civilian homes and 21,000 in other buildings ^[5].
The total cost of fire in England and Wales is estimated at approximately £7.03bn in 2004.

In modern homes where rooms contain upholstered furniture, varied electrical and electronic equipment, (made mainly of plastic components) and other consumer goods, fires can develop rapidly and violently.

Electrical faults and electrical apparatus caused some 10% of all the recorded fire incidents, but 19% of fire injuries. Fires with this cause are the most costly, averaging around GBP 4,300. Furniture fire safety statistics studies have calculated that the numbers of lives and fire injuries saved by the introduction of the 1988 UK legislation, requiring domestic furniture to be fire resistant, has been considerable    –¨ … the introduction of fire-safe furniture from 1988 onwards is estimated to have resulted in at least 50% of the estimated 2002 savings in injuries and domestic fire deaths…^[6]¨

1 World Health Organisation (WHO),2011. Burn Prevention Success Stories Lessons Learned online. Accessed Sept.20 2011 : http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2011/9789241501187_eng.pdf .
2 The Geneva Association (International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics), World Fire Statistics Bulletin n°26 October 2010 Fire Deaths for 2007.
3 World Fire Statistics Center of Fire Statistics of CTIF Report No.10 2006Source: http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/cons_safe/presentations/21-02/ctif.pdf
4 ”Fire Loss in the United States during 2009”, M.J. Karter, NFPA (National Fire Protection Association), 2010 http://www.nfpa.org
5 UK Office of the Deputy Prime Minister “Fire Statistics Monitor 2010-2011” http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/statistics/pdf/1929558.pdf
6 ‘International Fire Statistics and the Potential Benefits of Fire Counter-Measures’ University of Surrey Polymer Research Centre Report, May 2005Source: http://www.bsef.com/uploads/MediaRoom/documents/internationalfirestatistics2005-1_00.pdf