Socio-demographic predictors of residential fire and unwillingness to call the fire service in New South Wales

Abstract

In most industrialised countries, the majority of fire-related deaths and injuries occur in the home. Australia has implemented fire prevention programs and strategies, including the use of smoke alarms, to minimise this burden. The number of reported house fires has declined over the past decade. However, there is a growing recognition that unreported fires are important in the estimation of total fire hazards and their associated injuries. This current study used data from the 2014 New South Wales (NSW) Population Health Survey, a yearly telephone survey, consisting of 14,732 survey respondents. Univariate and multiple binary logistic regression models were conducted to examine predictors of residential fire and (un)willingness to call the fire service in the event of a residential fire. The proportion of respondents who experienced residential fires in NSW was 10% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 9.3, 10.8). The proportion of respondents who were willing to call the fire service was 3.1% (95% CI: 2.7%, 3.6%) and that of respondents unwilling to call was 6.9% (95% CI: 6.3%, 7.6%). Multivariate analyses revealed that respondents spoke another language in addition to English were significantly less likely to have experienced a home fire (odds ratio [OR] = 0.46; 95% CI: 0.32, 0.65, p < 0.001) and significantly less likely to call the fire service (OR = 0.34; 95% CI: 0.21, 0.54, p < 0.001), compared with those who only spoke English at home. The results in this study will inform Fire & Rescue NSW's ongoing development of appropriate interventions and awareness-raising programs about residential fire prevention.

Identifying sociodemographic risk factors associated with residential fire fatalities: a matched case control study

“…In the pathway between sociodemographic factors and residential fire fatalities, there must be intermediate factors18 19 creating differing opportunities for safety, to avoid risk and to access medical care 20. Evident covariation between low socioeconomic status and other risk factors are, for example, smoking21 and the use of alcohol and drugs22 and also less presence of smoke alarms,23 which has been proved to provide protective effects from death in the event of fire24 and a reduced likelihood to call emergency services to residential fires 25…”

Estimating the Total Number of Residential Fire-Related Incidents and Underreported Residential-Fire Incidents in New South Wales, Australia by Using Linked Administrative Data

“…Alternatively, police report and national census data were used to determine the incidents that were caused by residential fires [18][19][20]. Some studies used questionnaire and surveys to estimate the number of residential fire related incidents including [11,21,22] and some used two or more data bases to provide a better picture of the residential fire related incidents and their outcome. In Australia, Xiong et al [23] used residential fire related deaths from the coronial data as well as interviews from the survivors of the residential fires and in a matched case control Swedish study Jonsson and Jaldell [24] used census data and national database on fatal fires to determine the number of residential fire related deaths.…”

“…According to recent research studies, the reported number of residential fires, firerelated injuries and deaths significantly underestimated the true number [21,22,26]. In Greene and Andres [22], US surveys conducted in 1974, 1984 and 2004-2005 demonstrated that the majority of residential fires were not reported to or attended by the fire department.…”

“…In addition, Chubb [26] showed that many individuals who access medical treatment for fire-related injuries in the US or New Zealand do not have an associated fire incident report. A NSW population survey-based study by Tannous and Agho [21] reported that around one-third of respondents who experienced a residential fire did not contact fire services. The survey contained self-reported information about respondent's socio-demographic characteristics, including household size, respondent's age, gender, level of education, employment status, income, ethnicity, socioeconomic status and smoker status.…”

Health impacts and economic costs of residential fires (RESFIRES study): protocol for a population-based cohort study using linked administrative data

“…It is well recognised that the reported number of residential fires, fire-related injuries and deaths significantly underestimate the true number. 8 Australian population-based surveys show that around two-thirds of respondents who experience a residential fire are unwilling to call the fire service, 14 and studies from the USA and New Zealand highlight that many individuals who access medical treatment for fire-related injuries do not have an associated fire incident report. 15 Although most residential fire-related injury and deaths result from smoke inhalation and toxic fumes rather than burns, 16–18 under the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision (ICD-10) classification system which is used in many administrative health data collections, smoke inhalation (ICD-10 code T59) is not included with burns (ICD-10 codes T20-T31) and hence is commonly not captured in burn-related hospital and death statistics.…”