To consider the report relating to Accidental Dwelling Fire Fatality (CFO/77/24).

The Chief Fire Officer, Phil Garrigan presented an analysis on accidental dwelling fire fatalities between 2004/05 and 2023/24.

It was explained that there had been one fire fatality in 2023/24 which was the lowest number on record within the Service. The Chief Fire Officer explained that the work done by Prevention and by firefighters going to the most vulnerable parts of Merseyside to provide smoke alarms had been instrumental in this. Deb Appleton’s department were commended on analysing the data that determined where to target resources based on who was likely to suffer an accidental dwelling fire.

Prior to 2016/17 there had been an upward trend in fatalities which led the Authority to prioritise prevention work which subsequently saw a decline in fatalities.

The data was analysed on a district level which allowed the Authority to focus on areas of higher risk. Members were also advised that those over 70 were also at a higher risk of fatality so the Authority was pre-emptively targeting over 65’s whose lifestyle may be starting to change.

In 97 of the incidents, the victim was a sole occupant which affected people’s survival rate if there was a fire in their home, so this had been another area of focus for the Authority.

The Chief Fire Officer explained that the driving force for the team was for there to be no fire fatalities in Merseyside and they would pursue that goal relentlessly.

Councillor Byrom, Chair of the Authority, thanked the staff for their hard work over the years which had brought the number of fatalities down considerably. Councillor Byrom echoed the Chief Fire Officer’s comments that the aim was for zero fatalities from accidental dwelling fires and he suggested that the Service considered how to make car accidents more survivable as well as severe weather incidents, once this goal was met and maintained. He suggested applying the same approach to other fatal incident types to see if the same success could be achieved. The Chief Fire Officer confirmed this work was already being undertaken.

Councillor Finneran suggested each Member report back to their Local Authority about this prevention work to help spread awareness of the Authority’s aims.

Councillor Thompson noted that within the report one of the sources of ignition was candles and it was surprising that candles were still popular given the well documented risk of leaving them unattended in the home.

Councillor Lamb commended the Authority on its rich data and noted that the prevention work being undertaken was endlessly inspiring and he hoped it could provide a blueprint for other areas of work such as road danger reduction. It was requested that moving forward, the Authority consider the terminology it uses for accidental dwelling fires to remove the word ‘accidental’ to highlight that there was always a reason for these incidents.

The Chief Fire Officer assured the Members that the Authority would not rest on its laurels and noted there were new risks to be mindful of like lithium batteries.

With regards to changing the terminology, it was noted that ‘accidental dwelling fires’ was a national term which allowed the Authority to benchmark against other services but assured Members it would be taken into consideration.

RESOLVED that the content of this report be noted.