Fires

• There was an average of 307 accidental dwelling fires (ADF) attended each year over the five-year period
• Numbers of ADF attended shows a reducing trend, 2022-23 saw the 277 ADFs, the second lowest in the reporting period. The rate of accidental dwelling fires in 2022-23 at 4.14 per 10,000 population was below the national average of 9.3, now ranked at 36 out of 44 fire services in England. On this measure back in 2018 BFRS was significantly higher than average
• Bedfordshire ADF fatalities align to nationally prevalent risk factors: householders aged over 65, living alone, smoking, alcohol, impairment, no working smoke alarm, being male
• Cooking related causes have consistently been the most frequent cause of accidental dwelling fires over the five-year period 2016-17 to 2020-21, accounting for almost half (45%) of all accidental dwelling fires and responsible for 25% of all accidental dwelling fire fatalities (two deaths) and 13% of all injuries (12 injuries). However these percentages are slowly declining over time
• Whilst ‘smoking related’ fires have only accounted for 6% of accidental dwellings fires they have been responsible for 75% of all accidental dwelling fire fatalities (six deaths) and 42% of all injuries
• Analysis using commercial customer insight data suggests 16% of the county’s population live in households with well above average fire risk
• Analysis using commercial customer insight data suggests BFRS is effective in delivering Home Fire Safety Visits with 27% of visits made to the highest risk groups in 2022-23
• Poorer pensioners representing 2.1% of Bedfordshire population have been found to be the single highest risk group from ADF
• BFRS has identified that dementia, fuel poverty, falls in the home and deprivation all contribute to an increase in the risk from fire and are therefore relevant to its home fire safety risk reduction activity

Deliberate fires

• Deliberate fires overall showed a significant downward trend from 2018-19 to 2021-22 but a substantial rise in 2022-23
• Both deliberate road vehicle fires and deliberate outdoor fires show the same trend
• Deliberate dwelling fires numbers are stable; for the first time in five years there was a fatality in this category in 2022-23