Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

Tables of statistics relating to fires attended by National and Local Authority Fire Services in the United Kingdom have been compiled annually for the Home Office since 1946 and have been available to Fire Brigades and certain other bodies with a direct interest in fire prevention and fire protection. Summary tables have also been published in the Annual Reports of the Joint Fire Research Organization. From enquiries received by the Organization it has appeared that there may be an interest in the fuller fire statistics which is not catered for by the limited circulation referred to above and, with the agreement of the Home Office and Scottish Home Department, the tables for 1955 were made more generally available. The tables for 1956 contained in this volume are also generally available to interested persons. By arrangement with the Home Office, the Scottish Home Department, and Local Authorities, a report is received on every fire attended by a Local Authority Fire Brigade in the United Kingdom. The tables are compiled from these reports. They do not give information on all the fires that occur, but they give an accurate assessment of all the fires to which Fire Brigades are called. For the purpose of statistical analysis a one-in-four sample of reports received has been used. Details of the method of selecting the sample, and information on the possible sampling errors involved, are given in the Appendix. The tables are divided into four sections. The first section provides a summary of the United Kingdom figures for the years 1952 - 1956. More detailed statistical information for 1956 is given in sections II, III, and IV for England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland respectively.