Scientists to survey use of smoke detectors

About 60 people die in indoor fires in Norway every year. In 1991, the authorities decided to try to reduce fatalities by 30% by the end of the century. However, the 90s have not seen any noticeable decrease in the number deaths by fire.

“Not everyone can be saved by smoke-detectors alone, because many of those that die in fires need help to escape. But if more people installed smoke detectors and replaced their batteries regularly, it ought to be possible to get a little closer to the authorities’ target than we have done so far”, says Anne Steen Hansen of SINTEF.

Steen Hansen is leader of a new research project financed by the Ministry of Local Government and Labour, which will find out how Norwegians use - or don’t use - smoke detectors. The project will also look at the extent to which people have bought - and perhaps used - fire extinguishers in their homes.

Since 1991, it has been compulsory to install smoke detectors and have extinguishing equipment to hand. The aim of the research project is to find out whether these regulations have had any effect in saving lives and in reducing the extent of damage caused by fires.

The study will be carried out by students at NTNU and at Stord Haugesund College as part of their project and M.Sc. theses. Anne Steen Hansen will supervise the students and co-ordinate their work.

“Previous studies have shown that far fewer than 100% of households have installed smoke detectors, and that a large proportion of the detectors that have been installed do not work because their batteries are flat. We want to supplement this picture through the work of these students, both by carrying out local attitude surveys and by examining individual fires and interviewing the occupants involved”, says Steen Hansen.

Saves lives

She emphasises that the fatal fire statistics of the 90s must not lead people to believe that smoke detectors are a waste of money.

“The fact that the 1991 regulations do not seem to have had any effect on the statistics may be because many households had already installed smoke detectors. Without these devices the figures could have been much worse. Forms returned to the Directorate for Fire and Explosion Prevention by fire authorities indicate that as many as 70 lives were saved by smoke detectors in 1994 alone. However, there is every reason to believe that the number of fire fatalities would be lower than it is at present if only more people would install smoke detectors and, just as important, check that they are working”, she says.

Pilot project

The target figure of 30% fewer victims of fire was set forth in Parliamentary White Paper no. 15 from 1991 - 1992. On September 1 1990, the Ministry launched a new set of regulations regarding fire-prevention measures and fire ??. These regulations were accompanied by a series of new requirements, including that of installing smoke detectors and having extinguishing equipment available in private houses from January 1, 1991.

Now the Ministry wishes to evaluate the effect of the measures described in the regulations, in order to determine whether new measures will have to be adopted in order to fulfil the intentions expressed in the White Paper. The study for which SINTEF is responsible is a pilot study in this connection.

Studied fatal fires

Anne Steen Hansen is a research scientist at the Norwegian Fire Research Laboratory at the SINTEF Civil and Environmental Engineering research institute. Three years ago she carried out a large-scale study of fatal fires in Norway. She emphasises that it is unrealistic to believe that smoke detectors alone can prevent all fires that result in deaths.

“Sixty percent of the victims of Norwegian fires between 1978 and 1992 were people who needed help to escape. This group includes persons who were drunk, had limited mobility, were senile or psychologically unbalanced, children under the age of seven and persons who committed suicide by arson. On the other hand, 20% of the victims could be classified as “capable”, i.e. the type of person who would be able to install and maintain a smoke detector and to react rapidly to it. We have no information about the final 15%”.

When she examined fatal fires that happened in 1990 - 92, she made the following discoveries:

• We know that smoke detectors had been installed on the premises where 43% of these fatal fires took place.
  - We are certain that one out of four of the smoke detectors functioned during the fire. 
  -  Ten percent of the smoke detectors installed did not operate in the course of the fire. 
  -  We cannot determine whether or not the rest of the smoke detectors functioned.
  
• Smoke detectors had not been installed in 20% of cases of fatal fires.
  
• We lack information about the presence or lack of smoke detectors in 37% of the cases.
   

Questionnaire and “case studies”

The project which is now about to be carried out for the Ministry of Local Government and Labour will perform local surveys. Anonymous answers will reveal how many respondents have installed smoke detectors, where they are located, whether they work (and if not, why not), how often they are tested, whether anyone in the house feels that he or she is responsible for testing them, and so on.

“We will also gather information about specific fires. We will study police reports and interview occupants in order to find out how these fires were discovered, how the occupants experienced the situation and how they reacted to it. We will include cases in which the occupants were saved by smoke detectors. We also wish to gather information on fatal fires where we know that smoke detectors had been installed. What were want here is to find out why people died in spite of this”, says Anne Steen Hansen.
 

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