Fire and rescue incident statistics: April 2018 to March 2019

Fires

• In 2018-19 the number of fires attended by Welsh Fire and Rescue Authorities increased by 17% compared with the previous year. Since 2001-02 there has been a downward trend in the number of fires attended; the 2018-19 figure is 63% lower than in 2001-02.
• The number of primary fires in Wales increased by 2% over the year from 4,316 in 2017-18 to 4,392 in 2018-19. Primary fires include all fires in non-derelict buildings and vehicles or in outdoor structures, or any fire involving casualties or rescues, or fires attended by five or more appliances.
• In 2018-19 the number of secondary fires rose by 30% compared with 2017-18.
• The number of deliberate grassland, woodland and crop fires rose by 75% compared with 2017-18.

Casualties

• There were 20 fatal casualties from fires in Wales in 2018-19.
• The number of non-fatal casualties was 396 in 2018-19, a decrease of 25% compared with 2017-18. This decrease was largely due to a fall of 33% in those people receiving first aid or sent for precautionary checks.

False alarms

• In 2018-19 there were 14,487 fire false alarms in Wales, up from 14,161 in 2017-18, an increase of 2%.
• The number of malicious fire false alarms decreased from 419 in 2017-18 to 372 in 2017-18.

Special service incidents

• Fire and rescue authorities in Wales attended 9,278 special service incidents (including false alarms) in 2018-19, a 20% decrease on 2017-18.

Smoke alarms

• In over a third of dwelling fires in Wales in 2018-19, no smoke alarm was installed.

Cause of fires

• In 2018-19 the largest single cause of accidental dwelling fires was misuse of equipment or appliances, equating to a third of these fires. This has consistently been the main cause of accidental dwelling fires since 2001-02.

Response times

• In 2018-19, 61% of primary fires and 70% of dwelling fires in Wales were attended within 10 minutes.