Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

Fire Brigades in the United Kingdom attended 111 fires caused by fixed heating appliances using oil as fuel in 1956. Thirty of these occurred in private dwellings, 29 in industrial premises and 22 in a group of premises including schools, service premises, hotels and restaurants. Thirty-three per cent of the incidents were due to leakage, spillage, or flooding, 24 per cent to flash-backs or blow-backs, and 20 per cent to radiated, conducted, or convected heat. In 10% of the incidents fire was caused by faults in the electrical system. More than one third of the fires were caused by apparatus which was said to be defective in some way.