§ 27. Mr. Woodburnasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many lives have been lost and how much material damage has been caused by fire in the latest convenient period; to what extent carelessness in smoking or the use of matches was a contributory cause; and what further steps are being taken to prevent smoking in places with high inflammable risk.
§ Mr. Merlyn ReesThe prevention of smoking in premises with high inflammable risk is a matter already under consideration by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity, in the light of the recommendations made by the jury which inquired into the recent Glasgow warehouse fire in which 22 lives were lost.
Following is the information:
Provisional figures compiled by the Joint Fire Research Organisation show that in 1968 there were 809 deaths in fires attended by fire brigades in the United Kingdom. 170 were in fires caused by smoking materials and 24 in fires caused by matches, tapers and 130W naked lights. The British Insurance Association estimates the material losses in fires during 1968 at £100 million, but the figures do not show how much of this may have been due to smoking.