Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

An analysis has been made of the reports of fires in schools in a 1 in 2 sample of reports of fires in England and Wales during 1951. The total rate of incidence in all types of schools appears to have been 148 per 10,000 schools at risk (262 fires in the sample examined). About 24 per cent of the fires were attributed to causes connected with open grates, furnaces and slow combustion stoves, 16 per cent to causes associated with the use of electricity and 10 per cent to causes connected with the use of gas. In the sample of reports there were 11 fires in which casualties occurred and these resulted in 21 casualties, none of which was fatal.