Home > Profile of fire fatalities in Ireland using coronial data.

Doyle, Anne and Lyons, Suzi and Lynn, Ena (2019) Profile of fire fatalities in Ireland using coronial data. Fire Safety, (102892), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.firesaf.2019.102892.

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For the first time in the Republic of Ireland, analysis using coronial data describes all fire-related fatalities occurring during the years 2014–2016. Of the 106 fatalities, the majority of those who died were male (69, 65%) and 55 (52%) were 65 years or older. Most fires took place in private dwellings (97, 92%), in rural locations (58, 55%) and the majority were alone at the time of the fire (73, 69%). Fatal fires occurred more frequently during the night and where known (n = 48), the leading cause of fatal fires was due to smoking materials (12, 25%). Mobility was an issue for 16 people (15%) and 32 people (30%) were known to be smokers. Farmers and agricultural workers were over-represented in the data. Alcohol features prominently with alcohol present on toxicology for 54 (51%) fatalities. A Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) of at least 160 mg of alcohol per 100 mL of blood (mg/100 ml) was present in 35 fatalities (33% of all fatalities) and of those, the majority were male and in the 35–59 years age group. The high BAC levels in a significant number of fire fatalities, draws attention to the negative impact of alcohol on fire-related mortality.


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