An evaluation of the role of fire extinguishers

Characteristics of dwelling fires
Findings
204. There has been a substantial and sustained reduction in the number of dwelling/HMO fires, both
for fires attended by the FRS and for those dealt with by the public. Therefore, the chance of
having a dwelling/HMO fire is lower, even allowing for the increase in the number of households
and population size over the same time.
205. Most dwelling/HMO fires are relatively small, with the majority not going beyond the item first
ignited and few extending beyond the room of origin. The average area of damage caused by the
fire is also reducing and financial losses are often minimal. There is no need for the FRS to attend
these. Future risk communication and advice to the public should seek to help them understand in
what circumstances the FRS should be called.
206. There is evidence to suggest that the use of standard fire growth models in relation to
dwelling/HMO fires needs further research to assess their alignment with observations or data
from real events.
207. The FRS response time to all fires and dwelling fires has increased substantially from 5 minutes and
33 seconds in 1994/95 to 7 minutes and 47 seconds.
Discussion
208. The characteristics of dwelling fires have been shown to be continually changing with the data
identifying a trend of fewer and smaller fires. The causes of this are unknown but are likely to be
due to multiple factors. However, there is an opportunity to understand the changing nature of
risk and identify relationships indicated by these and other sources of data. This must incorporate
what is known about the fires dealt with by the public.
209. It is reasonable to assume that the FRS data is likely to represent the more serious fires where
those present felt the situation could escalate or was already beyond their ability to manage. And
yet, even allowing for pre-call activity, the FRS response time and then the period until an effective
intervention is made, the fires rarely extend beyond the item or room of origin. This challenges the
idea that all or even most fires represent a serious risk of injury to the public.
210. The size of fire data and number of fires dealt with by the public also demonstrates that the public
can deal with most fires and, in doing so, will achieve the best outcome. This should be the default
assumption for planning and guidance. However, little is known about when and why they decide
to call the FRS. Ideally, they would call as soon as they recognised a situation had, or was likely to,
develop to be beyond their ability to safely tackle. This requires specific and evidence-based
guidance. Certainly, a structured and evidence-informed assessment model would be a useful
addition to guide the public when they should call the FRS. This would provide a tiered basis upon
which the public and FRS could identify and communicate about risks in a meaningful way.
211. Published data regarding the final size of a fire is useful but does not provide any understanding of
how the fire developed and over what period. Dwelling/HMO fires are a regular occurrence
and are usually witnessed by those present. This presents a valuable and relatively easy
means by which the fire development and its association with other activities
(e.g. closing doors) could be captured. This could then assess the validity and inform
the ongoing development of fire growth models.
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