'Misplaced combustibles' main cause of all home fires in Humberside
The Fire and Rescue has released figures from 2021 to 2022
More than a fifth of all home fires in Humberside were caused by flammable items being placed too close to heat sources, according to service figures.
Humberside Fire and Rescue Service figures showed 87 of the 395 accidental dwelling fires in the region in 2021 -22 were caused by misplaced combustibles.
Cooking was the second most common cause of home fires with 80 and service figures show kitchens were the place most started with 43 per cent ignited by appliances.
It comes as the number of accidental home fires rose from 345 the previous year, with arson also up by 34 per cent, 663 more incidents, from around 2,000.
Those fires claimed two lives last year and 21 people were injured, 32 per cent lower than 12 months prior.
Faults in equipment or appliances were the third most common cause of accidental blazes at home, starting 54 fires, up from 34.
Careless disposals caused 46 fires, up from 42, while the number of blazes caused by faulty electric fuel supplies rose from 25 to 43.
Chip pans and deep fat fryers started 21 blazes, down from 26, while 14 were sparked by other known causes, down from 15.
The least common cause of accidental home fires was knocking something over which sparked one blaze compared to two the previous year.
Faulty gas fuel supplies started one, down from two, while blazes sparked by people playing with fire went up from one to two.
A service report on its performance last year stated the coronavirus pandemic and associated restrictions had changed people’s behaviour, particularly the young.
Figures showed the most common types of property set alight deliberately were loose rubbish and wheelie bins, accounting for 60 per cent of the total.
The report also stated increases in both fly-tipping and antisocial behaviour were recorded in 2021-22, increasing the risk of arson.
The service issued 240 notifications for deficiencies in fire safety measures following inspections at higher risk premises, up from 40 the previous year.
The proportion of inspections resulting in further action or enforcement rose from 19 to 24 per cent.
It took the first fire engine an average of six minutes and 23 seconds to reach home fires, up by 17 seconds compared to 2020-21.
The first fire engines to arrive on the scene of road crashes got there in eight minutes and 17 seconds, up from eight minutes and four seconds.
Firefighters attended a total of 13,918 incidents throughout the year, 1,432 more than the previous 12 months.
Non-fire related special services such as medical incidents, crashes, flooding, removing objects from people and freeing those stuck in lifts together accounted for 4,350 call outs.
Primary fires, serious blazes injuring people or damaging property, resulted n 1,207 call outs compared to 1,099 the previous year.
Secondary fires, generally smaller, outdoors and not involving people or property, accounted for 2,700 call outs compared to the previous year’s 2,176.
False alarms resulted in 3,675 call outs, more than a quarter of the yearly total.
A total of 2,439 were due to alarms going off, with 1,108 false but with good intent while 128 were malicious.
Firefighters rescued a total of 1,301 people during 2021-22, with almost half related to gaining entry or exit for people.
There were 255 rescues from height, machinery and other places, with objects removed from 142 people and 136 rescued following road crashes.
The number of road traffic collisions firefighters attended numbered 437, up from 320 the previous year.
Crashes which firefighters attended claimed 16 lives, up by two, with a 51 per cent increase in people injured from 134 to 203.
Firefighters were able to free 26 people trapped as a result of road crashes in 15 minutes or under.
It took them between 16 minutes and half an hour to free 33 people and 31 to 45 minutes to free 11.
Six people were released in between 46 minutes to an hour it took more than an hour to free two.