Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

The hazard of fires caused by wireless and television sets has been investigated for the year 1951. The rates of incidence of such fires, attended by the Fire Brigades in the United Kingdom during 1951, are shown in Table 1. The rate of incidence for 1951, which is defined as the number of fires per 10,000 sets at risk during the year, is compared with corresponding rates for the years 1947, 1948, 1949 and 1950. In order to obtain rates of incidence the necessary assumption has been made that the number of sets at risk is the same as the number of licences in force. The licence for a television set also permits the use of a wireless set in the same house, so the further assumption has been made that no household with a television set is without a wireless set. This means that the number of television licences in force has been added to the number of wireless licences, and the total has been considered to represent the number of meless sets at risk. Comparison of the rates of incidence for wireless sets calculated on this basis, with those in F.S.Note No.128/1951 shows that the change makes little difference. The number of television sets at risk has been estimated on the same basis as previous years.