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Placing items to close to heat sources biggest growing cause of fire in the UK

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New research from ADT has revealed that the causes of fires in the UK that have been rising the most are placing items to close to a heat source and faulty fuel supply.

The study looked at recent statistics to determine which were the most common causes of fires with the highest year-on-year percentage change

Although the misuse of equipment and appliances has the highest total for the most common cause of fire in England, placing articles too close to heat has the highest year-on-year percentage change with an increase of 4.87%, dwelling fires caused by this category rose from 3,327 in 2020/21 to 3,489 this year. 

Faulty fuel supplies follow behind as the second most common cause of dwelling fires in England. Increasing from 2,278 to 2,361, England witnessed a rise of 3.64% in fires caused by this category. 

Other accidental causes come in third place, this including the likes of flammable liquids and lithium-ion batteries.

Regional breakdown

The research also looked at the places with the highest fire-related incidents in the UK. 

Greater London experienced the most fire and rescue incidents with a rate of 202.96 per 100,000 people. The number of fires in the area has also risen by 13.36%, and fire and rescue incidents by 18.56%.

Greater Manchester experienced a growth of 34.84% in the number of fires in 2021-22, reflecting a rate of 53.99 per population, up from 49.16 last year.

The West Midlands sits in third place with a rate of 46.28. Interestingly, the percentage of fires in the West Midlands has jumped by 33.85%.

Further Insights

On average, dwelling fires receive the fastest reaction with a response time of 7 minutes and 52 seconds.

Scotland takes the top spot for the country, not only with the highest year-on-year percentage change, with fire-related incidents rising by 11.83%, but also the highest total of incidents per population with 1.75%.

The full research from ADT can be found here: https://www.adt.co.uk/blog/fire-fire

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