Surge in house fire deaths blamed on alternative heating methods

By Midday Report of RNZ

Fire and Emergency says the cost of living could be to blame for the highest number of house fire fatalities in a decade.

In the past 12 months, it says, 17 people have died in avoidable house fires. In a typical year, about 13 deaths are reported.

Fire and Emergency’s reduction and investigations manager, Pete Gallagher, said that in some cases, fires had been sparked by people using barbecues to heat their homes.

“One of the things we’re concerned about is people using non-traditional heating devices as a way of heating their homes,” he told RNZ’s Midday Report.

“In order to reduce the cost of living and reduce their use of electricity, they’re resorting to using items we wouldn’t normally see in a household setting, things like barbecues being brought inside and used as a heating device in the home.”

He estimated roughly four or five fatal house fires in the past year were caused by people taking desperate measures to keep themselves warm.

“We still see people utilising industrial heaters in a domestic home, and obviously they’re a very powerful heater designed to heat large warehouses, and we saw some tragedy result in the use of one of those last year.”

Gallagher said people needed to think about safety when heating their homes.

He said there were two incidents in the past year where candles caused a fire, which resulted in death.

Gallagher said this past year’s statistics were disappointing because house fire fatalities had previously been on the decline.

“The population has been doing a great job at reducing the number of deaths from house fires.

“I’d like to think this is just a blip in our statistics. But it looks to be a trend we need to get on top of because we don’t want to get back to the days of the 1970s and 1980s, where a large number of New Zealanders were dying in house fires.”

He attributed financial pressures and people not giving proper attention to their electrical devices to the number of deaths “skyrocketing back up”.

“We’re seeing wider use of electrical devices; there are more things people plug in or turn on in their homes, and sometimes without the necessary care and attention.

“But certainly, the cost of living, we see that driving the way people are operating these days, and that’s definitely impacting our fire statistics.

‘It’s a concern that people are putting themselves at risk.”

Gallagher said with the country experiencing colder days recently, it was timely for people to make sure they were taking a safety approach to staying warm.

“We have this phrase, the ‘heater metre’. We want everyone to be aware that a heating device is just as effective when it’s a metre away.

“When drying clothes, they don’t need to be on top of the heater; they can be a metre away.”

He said two-thirds of the fire fatalities in the past year happened in homes while people were sleeping.

“The importance of a smoke alarm cannot be overlooked. It’s key for that early warning, and once it activates, it’s important to have a plan to get out and stay out of the house.”

Fire statistics showed that those aged 65 and over, in particular, were at greater risk, Gallagher said.

– RNZ