Smoking and cooking to blame for majority of fires in the UK

One for all you data journalists.

The latest National Statistics and analysis in detail on fires, casualties, and false alarms attended by the Fire and Rescue Services in the United Kingdom have been released under the auspices of the UK Statistics Authority.

Here are the key points fro the report

1.Smokers' materials, predominantly cigarettes, were the source of ignition in the fires that accounted for 96 of the 268 fatalities in accidental dwelling fires in 2010-11.

2.Smoke alarms were absent from the fire area in 37 per cent of dwelling fires (16,400 fires). Of the total of 306 dwelling fires fatalities in the Great Britain in 2010-11, 112 (37 per cent) of these fatalities were in fires where there was no smoke alarm present, and a further 76 fatalities (25 per cent) where a smoke alarm was present but did not operate.

3.More than half (51 per cent) of accidental fires in homes arose from cooking. Other common sources of ignition were: electrical appliances (12 per cent), electrical distribution (10 per cent), smokers' materials (7 per cent), and space heating appliances (4 per cent).