Quick Canadian Fire Facts
Scott Mitchell
In public schools, children are taught about the serious danger of fire, how to develop a fire country plan and how to evacuate a building. As we grow older it is cushy to forget just how important it is to be fire country conscious. Here are some important Canadian fire-related facts that are useful knowledge to both reduce the risk of fire and for how to respond in an emergency situation.
Fire Safety Facts:
It takes less than 30 seconds for a small flame to turn into an out-of-control fire. In 3-4 minutes, a house can be engulfed in thick black smoke and flames. If you awake to a fire, you do not have enough time to save valuables, you must exit the building immediately.
In a house fire, the room temperature can be 100 degree physicist at floor level and rise to nearly 600 degrees at eye level. Smoke and toxic gases kill more people than flames do. To exit a burning building, cover your mouth with your shirt and crawl on the floor.
The most common cause of fires in the home are smoking, cooking, heating equipment and candles. More fires start in the kitchen than in any other place in the home.
The worst months for fires in the home are December, Jan and February. In the winter months, smoke and heating equipment malfunctions cause the most fires.
In Canada and the United States, fire kills almost 5,000 people apiece year. Residential fires statement for 73% of all fatalities.
A household fire is reported to a fire department in Canada every 30 minutes.
Fire Prevention Facts:
28% - Number of Canadian homes that do not have a fire extinguisher. Even if you have a properly maintained fire extinguisher, you must aim it at the base of the fire to be successful.
50% - Decrease in the home fire deaths and injuries since the late 1970s when smoke alarms first became widely acquirable in households.
63% - Number of reported fires apiece year in homes that have either no smoke alarms or a non-working smoke alarm. Two-thirds of fire deaths also occur in homes without working smoke alarms.
25% - According to a National Fire Prevention survey, only one quarter of families have developed and practiced a home fire escape plan.
Forest Fires in Canada:
10,100 ? The average number of forest fires that occur apiece year in Canada. British Columbia is the domain with the most fires apiece year (1,704) and Prince Edward Island has the least (22).
58% -The percentage of fires caused by people
42% - The percentage of fires caused by lightning
400 million ? The amount spent by British Columbia?s government fighting forest fires in 2009. There were over 3,000 forest fires this year in B.C., burning more than 2,105 square kilometers (210,579 hectares).
Well, there you have it. These are some eye-opening statistics about the dangers of fire in Canada. With a greater emphasis on fire country planning, we can continue to reduce the number of deaths from fires apiece year and make life safer for Canadians.
Scott Mitchell is a fire and life country expert at WPS Disaster Management Solutions. WPS is an industry leader in fire country planning. In addition to fire country plans, we also do disaster planning and training. Please visit our website at http://www.wps-plan.com