Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

An analysis has been made of all reports of fires in schools attended by Fire Brigades in England and Wales during 1953. There were 535 incidents reported, 329 of which occurred in schools run by local education authorities. Three hundred and sixty-two incidents occurred in primary or secondary nonresidential schools. One hundred and fifty-two incidents, 28 per cent of the total, were due to heating apparatus, and 46 to cookers (gas, electric or cooking ranges). Seventy-three incidents occurred in kitchens and canteens, 53 in classrooms, and 72 in structures separated from the main school buildings. It has been possible to obtain the cost of reinstatement of the damage caused by some of the fires. In 79 incidents in which the cost of the damage was estimated to be greater than £10, the total cost of reinstatement was about £92,000.