Fires, casualties and fatalities by area and financial year

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Chart

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Area

Area 1

Area Code

Economic Action Plan area code

Measure1

Year

Count

Count 1

Count 2

2007-08

2008-09

Since April 2009, data have been collected via the Incident Recording System (IRS). This has replaced the previous FDR paper forms and may cause an increase in the reporting of some categories of fire from 2009-10 onwards.

2009-10

2010-11

2011-12

2012-13

2013-14

2014-15

2015-16

2016-17

2017-18

2018-19

2019-20

2020-21

2021-22

2022-23

2023-24

All fires

24,661

19,521

19,152

20,688

16,464

11,438

13,169

11,651

12,108

10,750

11,023

12,911

10,587

10,326

10,740

11,068

9,700

All fires

Primary fires Includes all fires in non-derelict buildings and vehicles or in outdoor structures or any fire involving casualties, rescues, or fires attended by five or more appliances.

Includes all fires in non-derelict buildings and vehicles or in outdoor structures or any fire involving casualties, rescues, or fires attended by five or more appliances.

7,689

6,985

6,800

6,414

5,687

4,745

4,790

4,561

4,678

4,757

4,316

4,392

4,279

3,796

3,944

3,919

3,924

Primary fires Includes all fires in non-derelict buildings and vehicles or in outdoor structures or any fire involving casualties, rescues, or fires attended by five or more appliances.

Dwelling fires Dwellings are defined as buildings occupied by households, excluding hotels, hostels and residential institutions. These figures include mobile homes and any non-permanent structures used solely as a dwelling, such as houseboats.

Dwellings are defined as buildings occupied by households, excluding hotels, hostels and residential institutions. These figures include mobile homes and any non-permanent structures used solely as a dwelling, such as houseboats.

2,380

2,257

2,202

2,108

2,022

1,911

1,910

1,808

1,775

1,858

1,617

1,555

1,628

1,501

1,587

1,542

1,500

Other building fires

1,568

1,375

1,477

1,423

1,159

985

995

1,034

963

931

922

881

869

724

804

836

837

Road vehicle fires

3,193

2,851

2,663

2,216

1,820

1,518

1,482

1,432

1,573

1,669

1,504

1,485

1,440

1,177

1,218

1,177

1,206

Other primary fires

548

502

458

667

686

331

403

287

367

299

273

471

342

394

335

364

381

Secondary fires These are the majority of outdoor fires including grassland and refuse fires unless they involve casualties or rescues, property loss or five or more appliances attend. They include fires in single derelict buildings. They are reported in less detail than other fires and consequently less information concerning them is available.

These are the majority of outdoor fires including grassland and refuse fires unless they involve casualties or rescues, property loss or five or more appliances attend. They include fires in single derelict buildings. They are reported in less detail than other fires and consequently less information concerning them is available.

16,352

11,724

11,562

13,503

10,162

5,922

7,801

6,541

6,998

5,576

6,301

8,184

5,978

6,197

6,496

6,872

5,558

Chimney fires Chimney fires are any fires in occupied buildings where the fire was confined within the chimney structure (and did not involve casualties or rescues or attendance by five or more appliances).

Chimney fires are any fires in occupied buildings where the fire was confined within the chimney structure (and did not involve casualties or rescues or attendance by five or more appliances).

620

812

790

771

615

771

578

549

432

417

406

335

330

333

300

277

218

Fatalities A fatal casualty is a person whose death is attributed to a fire even if the death occurred weeks or months later. There are also occasional cases where it is subsequently found that fire was not the cause of death. The figures for fatalities are thus subject to revision.

A fatal casualty is a person whose death is attributed to a fire even if the death occurred weeks or months later. There are also occasional cases where it is subsequently found that fire was not the cause of death. The figures for fatalities are thus subject to revision.

Non-fatal casualties $From 2009-10, non-fatal casualties are recorded as being in one of four classes of severity as follows: (i) Victim went to hospital, injuries appear to be serious (ii) Victim went to hospital, injuries appear to be slight (iii) First aid given at scene (iv) Precautionary check recommended – this is when an individual is sent to hospital or advised to see a doctor as a precaution, having no obvious injury or distress. Non-fatal casualties marked as \'not fire-related\' have not been excluded (from 2009-10 onwards) due to widespread inappropriate use of this field. Therefore there is a possible discontinuity in the time series between 2008-09 and 2009-10.$

632

657

575

607

592

541

626

543

592

621

526

396

509

408

479

422

366

All rescues (including fatalities and non-fatal casualties who were rescued) A person who has received physical assistance to get clear of the area involved in the incident. Does not include circumstances where the victim was clearly dead when found, but does include rescues which might have resulted in a life being saved, even if the person did not survive the rescue attempt.

A person who has received physical assistance to get clear of the area involved in the incident. <br />Does not include circumstances where the victim was clearly dead when found, but does include rescues which might have resulted in a life being saved, even if the person did not survive the rescue attempt.

234

212

214

193

243

212

246

233

215

184

217

145

179

161

167

Metadata

High level information
Summary information
Keywords
Statistical quality information
Weblinks
Open Data

Title

Fires, casualties and fatalities timeseries

Last update

November 2024

Next update

September 2025

Publishing organisation

Welsh Government

Source 1

Fire incident recording system, Home Office

Contact email

stats.inclusion@gov.wales

Designation

National Statistics

Lowest level of geographical disaggregation

Fire and rescue authorities

Geographical coverage

Fire and rescue authorities

Languages covered

English and Welsh

Data licensing

You may use and re-use this data free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government License - see http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence

General description

The table shows the number of fires (by type and location) and the associated casualties (fatalities and non-fatal casualties) attended by the Fire and Rescue Authorities in Wales.
Note: In April 2009 the method of data collection changed from paper forms to via the Incident Recording System (IRS). Data earlier than 2009-10 (pre IRS) are partially based on sampled data, weighted to true brigade totals.

2009-10 data were extracted from IRS in May 2011.
2010-11 data were extracted from IRS in May 2012.
2011-12 data were extracted from IRS in May 2013.
2012-13 data were extracted from IRS in May 2014.
2013-14 data were extracted from IRS in June 2015.
2014-15 data were extracted from IRS in July 2016.
2015-16 data were extracted from IRS in July 2017.
2016-17 data were extracted from IRS in July 2018.
2017-18 data were extracted from IRS in July 2019.
2018-19 data were extracted from IRS in September 2020
2019-20 data were extracted from IRS in August 2021.
2020-21 data were extracted from IRS in August 2022.
2021-22 data were extracted from IRS in August 2023.
2022-23 and 2023-24 data were extracted from IRS in August 2024.
2023-24 data are currently provisional and will be updated September 2025.

Source: The Home Office
The nature of the live system means that data extracted for the Performance Indicator tables (in June) may not match that published here.
Non-fatal casualties marked 'not fire-related' have not been excluded due to some concern that this field has not been correctly used. There is therefore a possible discontinuity in the non-fatal casualties time series between 2008-09 and 2009-10.
Added to StatsWales: July 2011
Contact: stats.inclusion@gov.wales

Data collection and calculation

Data prior to 2009-10 were collected via the Fire Data Report (FDR) paper forms.
Data from 2009-10 onwards were collected via the Incident Recording System (IRS).

Frequency of publication

Annual

Data reference periods

Financial years 2001-02 to 2023-24

Users, uses and context

The data are used to inform policy decisions and to provide contextual information. The data is used by the Welsh Government to help monitor trends in incidents attended by FRAs over time and provides information on FRAs’ performance and activities to citizens and communities in Wales.
See web link for further information.

Rounding applied

Fire data prior to 2009-10 are based on a sampled dataset and so are rounded to the nearest whole number. For this reason the sum of component parts may not equal the totals shown.

Revisions information

Revisions are marked with an (r). The most recent year shown is currently provisional and may be revised when the table is next updated.

Keywords

Fire, Fire and Rescue Authority, Casualties, Fatal, Non-fatal, Dwelling

Statistical quality

See weblinks

Weblinks

Data quality report.
http://gov.wales/statistics-and-research/fire-statistics/?lang=en#/statistics-and-research/fire-statistics/fire-statistics-quality-report/?lang=en

Metadata

Title

Last update

Next update

Publishing organisation

Source 1

Contact email

Designation

Lowest level of geographical disaggregation

Geographical coverage

Languages covered

Data licensing

General description

Data collection and calculation

Frequency of publication

Data reference periods

Users, uses and context

Rounding applied

Revisions information

Keywords

Statistical quality

Weblinks

Name

Dataset

Metadata

Dimensions

Items