Towards an evidence based Zero Vision on residential fires By Ragnar Andersson, SWEDEN

1. Towards an evidence based Zero
Vision on residential fires
Ragnar Andersson

2. Background
• Globally more than 300.000 people killed
every year in fires
• Sweden has a Zero Vision on residential fires;
“nobody should get killed or seriously injured”
• Elderly and disabled dominate among victims
• What explains this selection process and what
can be done to further protect these groups?

3. Skewed population at risk
– what explains the selection?
Normal
population
Elderly,
disabled
and diseased
Selection process
Exposed VictimsFire process
• Do fires occur more often among certain groups?
• Are some groups more capable of responding to and escaping fires?
• Are some groups more vulnerable to the specific agents of fire?
• Are some groups harder to rescue than others?

4. Tentative model
Human
Fire
Building
Fire
onset
First
response
Escaping,
rescuing
Outcomes;
injuries,
deaths and
other
losses

5. Seven sub-projects, focusing:
• Socio-demographic determinants of fire onset
• Socio-demographic patterns of serious injury from fire
• Socio-demographic patterns of death from fire
• Determinants of survival from fire
• The effectiveness of rescue services with regard to
different victim categories
• Medical susceptibility to heat and smoke by age, sex
and health status
• Synthesis report on further needs for a credible zero
vision on residential fire

6. Project characteristics
• 13 researchers and experts from 4 centers
– Karlstad University
– Linköping University
– Uppsala University
– Swedish Contingencies Agency
• One PhD student (two more involved)
• Duration from 2014-2017
• Funding from the Swedish Contingencies Agency
• Two parallel projects financed from the same call
on fire and housing characteristics, respectively

7. Publication status by November 2015
• Jonsson A, Bergqvist A, Anderson R: Assessing the number of fire fatalities in a
defined population. Journal of safety research, 2015
• Jonsson A, Nilson F, Bonander C, Huss F: Epidemiology of fire fatalities in Sweden
(to be submitted)
• Jonsson, Anders; Runefors, Marcus; Särdqvist, Stefan; Nilson, Finn. Fire-related
mortality in Sweden – temporal trends 1952 – 2013 (Accepted, Fire Technology,
2015)
• Nilson, Finn; Bonander, Carl; Jonsson, Anders. Differences in determinants
amongst individuals reporting residential fires in Sweden – results from a cross-
sectional study (Fire Technology, 2015)
• Bonander, Carl; Jonsson, Anders; Nilsson, Finn. Investigating the effect of banning
non-reduced ignition propensity cigarettes on fatal residential fires in Sweden.
(Accepted, European Journal of Public Health, 2015)
• Jaldell, Henrik. How important is the time factor? Saving lives using fire and
rescue services. (Submitted, Fire Technology, 2015)
• Eggert E, Huss F. Why are elderly more likely to die in residential fires? A literature
review of possible medical and biological factors affecting the outcome after
inhalation and/or burn injuries (to be submitted)