HC Deb 05 December 1980 vol 995 c197W
Mr. Dan Jones

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions firemen were called to fires in England and Wales in 1979; how many people were killed in such fires in 1979; how many people were killed or injured in such fires in 1979; and what estimates he makes of the number of persons saved from death or injury by the presence of firemen at such fires in 1979.

Mr. Brittan

The report of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Fire Services 1979 gave an estimate of 308,000 fires attended by local fire brigades in England and Wales in 1979. Fuller information on numbers of fires, and details of the fatal and non-fatal casualties involved, are published annually in Fire Statistics United Kingdom—tables 14 and 15 in the volume for 1978. Copies of volumes for 1978 and earlier years are in the Library of the House; the 1979 volume will be published in early 1981.

No estimates are available of the number of persons saved from death or injury by the presence of firemen.