Fire deaths in the province of Ontario 1956 and 1957

Publisher’s version / Version de l'éditeur:

Vous avez des questions? Nous pouvons vous aider. Pour communiquer directement avec un auteur, consultez la première page de la revue dans laquelle son article a été publié afin de trouver ses coordonnées. Si vous n’arrivez pas à les repérer, communiquez avec nous à PublicationsArchive-ArchivesPublications@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca.

Questions? Contact the NRC Publications Archive team at

PublicationsArchive-ArchivesPublications@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca. If you wish to email the authors directly, please see the first page of the publication for their contact information.

https://publications-cnrc.canada.ca/fra/droits

L’accès à ce site Web et l’utilisation de son contenu sont assujettis aux conditions présentées dans le site LISEZ CES CONDITIONS ATTENTIVEMENT AVANT D’UTILISER CE SITE WEB.

Internal Report (National Research Council of Canada. Division of Building Research), 1959-01-01

READ THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS WEBSITE.

https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/copyright

NRC Publications Archive Record / Notice des Archives des publications du CNRC : https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/view/object/?id=2cf73e2c-d3e8-4bf6-99c8-ea2c079831c9 https://publications-cnrc.canada.ca/fra/voir/objet/?id=2cf73e2c-d3e8-4bf6-99c8-ea2c079831c9

Archives des publications du CNRC

For the publisher’s version, please access the DOI link below./ Pour consulter la version de l’éditeur, utilisez le lien DOI ci-dessous.

https://doi.org/10.4224/20386790

Access and use of this website and the material on it are subject to the Terms and Conditions set forth at

Fire deaths in the province of Ontario 1956 and 1957 Williams-Leir, G.

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF CANADA DIVISION OF BUILDING RESEARCH

FIRE DEATHS IN THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO

1956-57

by

G. Williams-Leir

Report No. 124

of the

Division of BUilding Researoh

Ottawa

u.

S.

A.

DEATHS PER 100,000 POPULATI ON PER YEAR

ｾ

OVER 6

4 -6 2 - 4

L ESS TH AN 2

6 clTlnWI TM POPUI. AllOIllｕｃｦ｛ｾ ＯｉｉｉＶ 100.000

PREFACE

The Fire Section of the Division of BUilding Research, National Research Council of Canada, on 1 January

1954,

began a study of deaths caused by fire in the Province of Ontario. DBR Reports Nos. 72 and

86

have already been issued on this

study. The purpose of this report is to present in statistical form the information obtained in the third and fourth years of the study. Nearly 700 cases have now been covered in the survey.

This investigation was undertaken with the encouragement and co-operation of Mr. W.J. Scott, O.B.E., Q.C., Fire Marshal of the Province of Ontario.

Mr.

R.B. Wallace, Deputy Registrar-General of Ontario, kindly provided the assistance of his

Office's Vital Statistics Section.

Mr.

C.R. Magone, Q.C., Deputy Attorney General of Ontario, secured the co-operation of LocaL coroners and Crown attorneys and many munic ipal fire officials also supplied useful information. The Division is grateful for all the assistance it has received.

For the initial, ｯｾ pilot stage of this study, one province has been selected as a sample of the Dominion. It is hoped that in a few years the techniques used in conducting the study will be so developed that they can be offered for wider use.

Comments on, or criticisms of, this report will be welcomed.

Ottawa

January

1959

R.F. Legget Director

by

G. Williams-Loir

This is the third of a series of reports (1, 2) on deaths due to fire in Ontario. It ana.lyses the circumstances surroundlne such deaths for the years

1956

and

1957

and compares these years with the two previous. The information was gathered, as in

previous year-s , from correspondence and staff investigations. For the first time the survey is supplemented by some

information on fire deaths in Canada generally. This was obtained from the publications of the Dominion Bureau of Statistics and of the Dominion Fire Commissioner's Office. It will be presented as a preliminary to the detailed information derived from the Fire Section's own investigations.

Fire Deaths in Canada

Figure 1 rela tes the nurnber of fire dea ths in Canada to deaths from other causes, both natural and violent. Figure 2 shows the long-term trend of the fire death rate in Canada; the gradual increase since the beginning of the Second World War seems to have been arrested since about

1950.

Figure

3

compares the fire death rates for the ten provinces, with Ontario's being close to the national average.

Fire Deaths in ｏｮｾ｡ｲｩｯＺ __ｑ･ｮ･ｾｾ

The remainder of this report viill be devoted to information derived in the province of Ontario by the Fire Section of the

Division.

The classifications used and the techniques by which information was manipulated have been descrjbed in detail in "Coding Manual for Analysis of Ontario Fire Deaths

1956" (3).

After four years of applicat I on , the systems set down in this coding manual should serve for several years with only minor changes.

- 2 ...

For the purpose of thf.s inquiry a fire death means a death classified under heading E916 of the International Statistical Classification

(4),

namely, "Accident caused by fire and explosion of combustible material". The Vital Statistics Section of the Ontario Registrar-Generalis Office informs the Fire Section of each case it is classifying under this head, and normally these are the cases studied in this survey. Occasionally, cases are rejected or added after further information has been obtained as a result of the Fire Section's inquiries.

Sources of Information

Certain fatal fires are visited as soon as possible after the event by a member of the Fire Section who prepares a report. In other cases fires are visited by a member of the Ontario Fire Marshal's staff and his report is made available to the Division.

The Fire Section is informed about other cases through a newsclipping service and by the Vital Statistics Section. Forms are then sent to the fire chief of the municipality conoerned, or, if ｴｨ･ｾ･ is no fire department, to the local police officer who is requested to supply particulars of the fire.

Specimens of the forms used since March 1956 are included as Appendix II to this report.

The Vital Statistics Section reports on every case; a death is not treated as a fire ､･｡ｴｾ until either a report is received from this Section or a report from another source has been discussed with the Vital Statistics Section.

Primary Classifica tion of Fire Deaths

The appropriate questions to ask when ascertaining the reasons for a fire death vary according to the circumstanoes. Thus, questions about building construction are irrelevant when the death is due to a clothing fire; and when the victim is a small child, there are questions regarding the care taken of the child that do not arise for adults.

In this report, therefore, every fire death has been

classified as ei ther a B death or a C death, where B means "building firelt _{and C "clothing r tr-e" (precise definitions of these terms}

are given in the Coding ManuaL (3)). Every fire death is also either an I death or an A death, where I means "infant or child under seven" and 11. means "aged seven or over".

One indication which supports the view that infant fire deaths form a group for which separate treatment is appropriate is the sudden drop in fire deaths at about age

5

(Fig.

7).

The four abbreviations B, C, I and A will be used singly or together in this report without further explanation. It

should be noted that there are four possible combinations - IB, IC, AB, AC - so that an IB death means the death of a child undar seven in a building flre I and so on.

Table I shows how male and female victims were distributed among these primary classifications.

Fatal Fires

The

354

fire deaths reported on resulted from

255

fatal fires. The distribution of deaths per fire is given in Table II.

Throughout the report the unit of comparison used is the fire death rather than the fatal fire.

Fire Death Rate

.

The "Fire Death Rate" or "FDR" is defined for the purpose of this report as the number of fire deaths per 100,000 population at risk per 12 months. When applied to a limited group, e.g. girls from age 5 to 10, it means the deaths in this group per 100,000

in the group. When applied ｾｯ a limited period, e.g. Tuesdays, it means the fire deaths per 100,000 in twelve months of Tuesdays.

The abbreviation FDR will be used in the report without further explanation.

GeograEhical Distribution of Fire Deaths

The frontispiece is a map showing how the fire death rate varies across Ontario. FOR has been computed by counties and

districts for the four years

1954-57,

but in several cases adjacent counties or districts have been grouped so that no group has a

popUlation of less than 50,000 (since in groups smaller than this the FOR would be unduly influenced by a single fatality).

It would be rash to draw conclusions about any single group from just four years' experience, however, since a single fire in which several lives are lost could drastically alter the FOR for a less populous county or group. In spite of this there

4

-is a clear conclusion to be drawn from the map as a ｷｨｯｬ･ｾ All the districts (i.e. from Muskoka and Nipissing northwards) have FOR's exceeding

4 -

most exceed

6.

In contrast, most of the

counties of southern Ontario have FDR's less than

4.

Most cities with populations over 100,000 have FDR's less than 2, and this governs the rate for the counties in which they lie.

Over-all rates for these areas when grouped may be

computed. As shown in Table III, the five cities together have an FOR of about 2. Excluding these cities the rate for the

remainder of the counties (i.e. southern Ontario) is about 3 1/2, while for the districts (i.e. northern Ontario) it is greater than

7.

These three groupings have very different population densities and a negative correlation between population density and fire death rate seems evident.

ｃｨｲｯｮｯｬｯｧｩ｣｡ｬｾｳｴｲｩ｢ｵｴｩｯｮ of Fire Deaths

. Figures

4,

5

and 6 show the dependence of FDR upon time of year, day of week, and time of day.

The worst season for fire deaths is from October to May. Saturday seems to be the worst and Tuesday the best day of the week. More deaths occur at night than during the day, and there is also a heavy incidence of fatal fires around breakfast time. Although in some cases the victim dies in the fire, he may survive for days or weeks in other cases. The time of the fire is the

subject of the graphs, not the time of death. Fire Deaths by Age of Victim

Fire death rate, as defined, is low between ages 10 and 60 and rises sharply at both ends of ttis range (Fig. 8). This could be applied to death rate generally instead of just to fire death rate. Is death by fire primarily an affliction of infancy and old age?

In order to discover whether age has any significallt bearing on death by fire it is instructive to compute the ratio

of fire deaths to all deaths. This ratio is plotted against age in Fig.

9.

The situation is nearly the reverse of that for fire death rate; the ratio is above average for ages between 1 and

50,

but falls at both ends of this range. It is conspicuously high for the ｡ｾ･ range 1 to 15 and rises to a peak at age

4;

for children aged

4

about one death in ten is due to fire.

These are therefore the ages when fire is most serious in relation to other causes of death. Some reserve is appropriate since the death rate from causes other than fire is low for

children after the first year of life. The ratio is a ratio of small quantities and consequently is sensitive to small variations. This applies also to the observation that this ratio is more

than twice as high for girls as for boys in the age range

5

to

19-If the apparently opposite behaviour of these two graphs seems difficult to understand, the following example may make the position clear. Among 100,000 people, all aged 80, the number of fire deaths in a given period ｾｩｬｬ be Ereate£ than among 100,000 people all aged 50 (in a year ｾｴ would be about

16

against

3).

Among 100,000 people, however, all of whose deaths occur at age 80, the number of fire deaths will be smaller than for 100,000 people dying at age 50 (about 100 against

500).

One inference to be drawn from Fig.

9

is that death by fire is increasingly improbable for adults. At age 40 the odds against death by fire are 100 to 1; from age 55 on they are 400 to 1 9r higher.

Occu:eancy

The occupancies in which the fatal fires took place are set out in Table IV, and comparative figures for the three years

1954-56

are also given. !!!ture ,of Fa tal Injurz

Table V shows the nature of the fatal injury that was recorded as the cause of death. When a body is badly burned in a building fire it must be difficult to say whether death was

due to burns, asphyxia or carbon monoxide poisoning and, therefore, the figure for burns may be high.

Building Fire Deaths

The next three sections deal with bUilding fire deaths only - deaths due to ignition of clothing without any bUilding fire are excluded.

In order to test the hypothesis that fire deaths are frequently associated with overcrowded living, the gross floor area per resident for each dwelling where a fatal fire ｯ｣ｾｵｲｲ･､

6

-The results are given in Table VI and as a histogram in Fig. 10. How far they support the hypothesis depends on what is regarded as overcrowding; this is a matter of opinion. Most people would agree, however, that the 19 per cent of fatalities who had been living in less than 100 square feet per person were overcrowded; perhaps the same could be said of the 39 per cent of fatalities who had less than 150 square feet per ｰ･ｲｳｯｮｾ To illustrate this density of 150 square feet per person, imagine six people living in a 30-ft square bungalow.

Source of Ignition and ｒ･｡ｳｯｾ for ｆｾｴｾｬ InJ.l!.r;L

These are tabulated together in Table VII, for the two years 1956-57 collectively.

1) The source of ignition is frequently unknown since the fire often destroys any evidence. Sometimes the only person who could have known the source was a victim of the fire.

2) Among the known sources of ignition, the most prominent are ＢｳｭｯｫｩｮｾＱｉ (Sources Nos.

3

and

4>

and IIfuel cookers and stoveslt

(Nos.

14

and 15).

3)

Among the known reasons for fatal injury, by far the most frequent is "asleep in burning building" and next comes "trapped by fire in an exit".

Surface Materials

.

The hypothesis that fire deaths are often associated with the use of flammable materials for wall and ceiling finishes was considered worth testing. The finishes in the room where the fatal fire started are considered the most relevant, and these have been

tabulated in Table VIII. Often, but not always, the same material is used throughout a house.

From this it will be seen that in 57 per cent of the cases where the nature of the wall material was known it was

combustible. The same was true in 63 per cent of the cases where the ceiling material was knmvn. These results are similar to those found in 1955. While nothing is known of the numbers of buildings at risk lined with each material these percentages are high enough to make the hypothesis seem plausible.

Fire Department Attendance

Table IX summarizes the available information on atten-dance of fire departments at fatal bUilding fires. In 66 per cent of the cases the death occurred in a municipality having a fire department and this department did attend the fire, sometimes

assisted by others. In 15 per cent of cases the fire was attended either by a fire department from outside the municipality or by a non-municipal firefighting body such as a works fire brigade. In the remaining 19 per cent no organized firefighting body was in attendance.

This information has been tabulated for building firee with clothing fires ･ｸ｣ｬｵ､･､ｾ In most clothing fires ｴｾ･ｲ･ is no need for the attendance of a fire department.

Extent of Fatal Buildins Fires

Table X lists the extent of ｴｾ･ building fires. In more than half the cases the bUilding was destroyed but the fire rarely

ｳｰｲ･｡ｾ to other buildings. Clothing Fire Deaths

The sources of ignition in fatal clothing fires are given in Table VII. The most prominent sources are stoves and ranges, smoking materials and carelessly handled flannnable liquids. Over the 3-year period 1955-57, sixi;y··seven of the 138 C victims were people aged 65 or over; it is rC880nable to suppose that the

elderly are less able to take el1cn"getic measures when their clothing ignites and are less likely to nurvive their burns.

The type of garment Y\')I'n is tabula ted in Table XI and

the fabrics are given in Table XII. The information available shows that cotton is the fabric most frequently involved in a clothing fire. Cotton is of course more generally worn indoors than is any other single fabric.

Table XIII indicates the action taken by the victim when his clothes ignited. Fifty-two people died who had failed to tackle the burning clothing because they were overcome by panic, were relying on other people, or were senile etc. ｾｶ･ｮｴｹＭｴｷｯ

others died after trying to beat out or smother the flames. Fire Deaths of Children

-This report has dealt with source of ignition and reason for fatal injury for all fire deaths including those of children. When children are concerned, however, another reason must be

8

-was it that this person -was not able to protect them before a fire or rescue them during it? For convenience and with no

implication of blame this person will .be referred to as the "responsible person", or RP for short.

Over the two years

1956-57,

82 children under seven died in fires, 12 of them through clothing fires. In

75

cases the child was under parental care at the time and in

54

out of

71

cases the "responsible person" was in the age range

21-34.

Thus fire deaths of infants cannot generally be attributed to the carelessness of babysitters or to the ｩｾｮ｡ｴｵｲｩｴｹ or senility of the persons having charge of the children.

The reasons assigned for failure to safeguard the children are set out in Table XIV. Often throughout the survey it was

difficult to be certain of the most accurate classification. For example, the heading "responsible person in the same bUilding but still not in time to save the child" has been used where a more appropriate heading might have been found if fulle r information had been available. This classification has been used for several cases where the RP was sleeping at the time of the fatal fire. Comments

To be completely effective, a study of this kind should leave in the reader's mind the same general picture as that visualized by those who analysed the original reports.

One scene might be of a rural slum, a shack or house of poor construction usually lacking the servlces which most people now consider necessities and housing too many people, in which normal carelessness often coupled with the influence of liquor allows a fatal fire to start. These cases often make headlines

in local papers and are fully reported.

Another Lmagf.ned picture might be of an elderly fraoil

person whose clothing becomes ignited and who is eventually taken to hospital only to die a few days or weeks later. Fire departments are seldom called in these cases and newspapers do not usually

regard them as news. Often the only information on tbe case comes from the Vital Statistics Section, and it may be received too late for a detailed report. Thus, the picture is indistinct.

The subject matter imposes some limitations on how c omp'l.e t.e a picture can be given in one report. Many of the circumstances

surrounding fire deaths are of a scrappy nature, difficult to reduce to any system; others though highly relevant, are so sordid tha t a separate report would be needed to deal with what is a social rather than a technical problem.

After four year-s of inve stiga tion some facts are clear and definite. One can foretell, for instance, that next year the fire death rate in northern Ontario will again be higher tban in the cities, that more children under five will be lost than between ages 10 and 15, that many people will be trapped by fire while sleeping and that many reports will be received with important details missing.

Other questions still remain unanswered, however. Why are stoves so often the cause or source of tragic fires? Why do so many parents fail to save their children even when they are in the same bUilding at the time of the fire? What circumstances lead to people being 'overtaken by fire' when there seems to have been no obsta ole to their escape?

It is difficult to estimate when or how a satisfactory answer to these and other questions will be reached.

Acknowledgments

Miss J.R. Evans and Miss G. Zuan3 assisted ably in the preparation of the material here reported.

References

1.

3·

Shorter, G.W. and G. Williams-Leir. Fire deaths in the province of Ontario, 1954. Report No. 72 of the Division of Building Research, National Research Council, Ottawa. ｓ･ｰｴ･ｮｾ･ｲ

1955, 20p. 7 Figso

Williams-Leir, G. Fire deaths in the province of Ontario, 1955. Report No. 86 of the Division of Building Research, National Research Council, Ottawa. September 1956, 25p. 7 Figs.

Williams-Leir, G. Coding manual for analysis of Ontario fire deaths, 1956. Report No. 100 of the Division of Building Research, National Researoh Council, Ottawa. September 1956, 2lp. 1 Fig.

Manual of the International Statistical Classification of diseases, injuries and causes of death. World Health

Organization, Geneva, 1948, Vol. 1, pp. 263, 305-307, 311. 1958 Municipal Direotory, Department of Nunicipal Affairs,

APPENDIX I

QUALITY AND COMPLETENESS OF REPORTING

An account of the quantity of reports and the quality of reporting will be given, using the following code taken from the Coding NBnual (3). Code

-A B C D E VS Source of ReEor.t

Fire Section, Division of Building Research Office of the Ontario Fire Marshal

Police Fire Chief Newsclipping Vital Statistics

Reports A, B, C and D have an advantage over E and VS in that they attempt to answer a questionnaire which was carefully designed to elicit the information desired.

Table XV shows the number of each class of report received. This is less significant than Table XVI which shows for each case the kind of report on which the survey had to rely. For instance, there might be only a newsclipping and the particulars would be taken from this; in another case when there is both a newsclipping and a fire chief's report, the newsclipping would be used only to fill in any omissions in the report. The tables show that over

the three years there has been a decline in the numbers of the A and B reports and an increase in the D reports.

In

42

per cent of fire deaths over the 3-year period, a report has been available from an officer mainly devoted to

investigations of fires. In another

45

per cent the officer making the report has received a questionnaire which indicates the exact information needed from him. He usually completes it with care and skill. In the remaining

13

per cent only a brief formal report or a newspaper account is available.

A brief but systematic study has been made of the completeness of the information supplied by each type of source in a typical

From the table it will be seen that all sources supply good answers to such questions as: reason for fatal injury in building fire, reason for infant's fatal injury_ All but VS

report well on time of day. Victim's reaction in clothing fires, number of residents and area of bUilding are well handled in most cases by A and B but poorly by C and D only. The nature of the fabric ignited in clothing fires is reported on fairly well by A, B, C and D only. A and B deal much better with wall and

ceiling linings than do C and D.

As an example of the deficiencies in reporting on wall and ceiling finishes the reply Itwa l l boa r dlt is not sufficiently

specific and must be treated as "unknown". Regarding the source of ignition of fatal fires, the more expert reporting officers give a higher proportion of Itunkn own " , indicating that the others

IIｐｐｉＧｾｮ IX IT

I:nt:l 1 H':SC'[H'ch Council :)lviriol, of BIJUHnc Ite s e ar-ch

l"irp. Heseareh Sect.iol'l

Firo Fatalit;y Inv0stication For-m ＨＱｾ

F'ull addrc.3F of .fire (number, street, -'uniciDality, and county or district)

Date of fire

Area On a 30parate sheet,')lease give, Ti'"""You can.. an outline sketch plan of each

stor-ey of the bu L'l d Lng , wi tl1 approximate -e a s ur-ements , Show »o Lrrt where fire started lind where bodies were found.

ｾｈ､ｴｨ Ｈｂ｡ｾ･ｭ･ｮｴＯ｣･ｬｬ｡ｲＭＺＭＭＭＭｦｴＮ (Ground floor: -(Hie;her storeys:

==

Length ft. ｾｯｷ man

l

storeys? (exclud ng basement)

How many people normally resided in the bUilding?

'vas basement used as liVing guarters? Yes/No/No basement eXisted/Don't know

*

Construction of exterior walls

'( clapboard, brick veneer, solid brick-;･ｾｦ｣ ＺｾＬＮ ... - - - Ｍｾ - - -

_ . _

-Interior finish of room where fire started

h-iallpapered lath &: plaster; painted gy,)sum wall board, etc. )

( L) Ivalls (ii) Ceil1ng_

did the fire start?

Source of ignition (lamp,range,etc.) _

1:Jhat fuel (if any) did i t use?(oil,gas,elec.) ._

l,r,Jhat first ignited?(curtains,bedding,etc.) . _

and W'1Y? (lamp knocked over, pLay Lng with ma'tc he sj etc , )

ｾＱｨ･ｲ･ did fire start, &: on which storey? How

Ta)

( b)

(e)

( :1)

rJW many deaths from this fire?

- - - - _ .

-\</a8 there, or will Ye"'/No

*

there be, BTl inquest? ｾ

vias the

Did any

(If yes,

fire confined to: Room of origin/Storey of origin/Building or did it extend to other buildintj(s)? fire de artment attend this fire?

state which fire de oar tme nt .

of origin/*

iLly further remarks (Reverse side or seo ar-at e sheet mav be use d also)

'118as-; send-any-avaIlabIe--photo'j;:raf'hs, and state what payment is requlrcd.-L'J.CY Vlill be returned if not needed.

PLEAS£!; ALSO COMPLETE BLUE FORM; 0NE COPY FOR EAC:i FATALrry.

Fire Research Section Fire Fatality Invcstipation Form (II)

REPORT ON FIRE VICTIM

(l-'lease complete one form for each fatality) Name of victim

1. BUILDING FIRE

Ace Sex _

'.f:lereabouts in the building did the victim obtain 'lis injuries? \'11ention which storey)

Why was the victim trapped or otherwise unable to escape?

2. CLOTHING FIRE If the fatality was due to the victim's clothing becoming

ignited:-How did this happen? _

;'!hat did the victim and others present do about it?

What was the type of garment first ignited? (shirt,skirt,etc.) Fabric: state main constituent (co ton, wool, etc. )

If available, please send an unburnt piece of the

if possible a square foot or moreo iGnited garment,

Ho•• old was this person?

3. INFANT If the victim was a ch i.Ld less than seven years

old:-Who was the oerson in chari-J) of or resp(;nsible for the child?

(e.e. parent. babysitter,etc.)

Was the responsible person with the child: in the same room?

same storey? _ _ _ _ Same building? ,

fur away was he/she? _ _ _

if not , how

If the responsible ?erson was not in the same building as the child at

the time of the fire, how long had he/she been away? _

If the responsible person ｾ there, why was he/She unablp tu safeL,uard

the infant?

4. If the questions above do net fit the ci.r-cumstanc e s , pLea s o Live your own

account on another sheet, or on the back of this one,

l'LEASE ALSO COt'1.t'LETI';; FClm (I) rml',RT eN }i'ATAL nnE

Date ｾ . _

Hank or pusition

l)elJart1;lc n t

-National Research Council

A-3

Division of BUilding Research Fire Research Section.

FIRE FATALITY INVESTIGATION I"ORM III

1. Name of Deceased: Surname: 2. Sex: 4. Date of death: 5. Place of death: 6. Place of residence: Given names: 3. Age: Month by name: Reg. No. Year:

vIs

Code No.

7. Date of fire or explosion: Month by name: Year:

8. Did fatal fire or explosion occur at home, in industry, or in a public place?

9. How was the injury sustained? E

10. Nature of injury and cause of death: Ｎｾｎｾ ｾ

11. Was there an autopsy? An inquest?

12. Findings of autopsy and/or verdict of inquest:

13. Any further particulars:

Date of report:

FIRE DEATHS BY SEX -

4

PRIMARY CLASSIFICATIONS (ONTARIO

1954-7)

1956-57

_Four

I

_I

years IC

*

IE ｾｾ _AC

*

_AB

*

_Total

_1954-7

i ! j

I

_I i _I i _Male

8

44

50

130

232

₄₁₄

Female

₄

26

38

54

122

284

: , Total

12

70

88

184

354

698

IC - Infant under seven, clothing fire

IB

-

_"

It II _{building fire}

ｾｾ

AC - Person over seven, clothing fire ',- AB

-

II It It

building fire

TABLE II

HOW MANY DEATHS OCCUR FROM EACH FIRE?

(ONTARIO

1956-57)

Number of Fires 'I Deaths per Deaths i _fire

_1956-7

1956

1957

_!

!

93

I I I I1

1

204

17

14

_!

2

62

4

2

"

3

18

2

2

I

₄

16

2

₅

₅

₃₅

1

1

6

12

1

0

₇

₇

-354

-GEOGRAPHICAL INCIDENCE: RELATION OF FIRE DEATH RATE TO POPULATION DENSITY (ONTARIO

1954-7)

Fire Deaths

Population

I

Fire Area

I

;

!

4

years

People

1955

:

death (thousands per

i

1954 1955

I

1956 . 1957

!

1954-7

I

(thousands) rate lof sq miles) sq mile

I r I ! i Metropolitan Toronto 1

28

17

I

24

16

!

85

1303

1.63

I

81

i

1.67

Hamilton _ｌｾ

_Ii

2

15

221.j.

ottawa

6.

14

₁₄

2\

36

214

, 4.21

i v-Jindsor

2:

0

₄

6

!

_I

12

128

12.34

London

₃

1

2

1

!

₇

₉₈

_{' 1.79}

Subtotal

- 5

largest cities

₄₃

₃₃

₄₆

₃₃

₁₅₅

1967

' 1.97

0.29

68$0

Remainder of southern'

95

1 Ontario

88

79

94

356

2572

3.46

39.4

65.2

Northern Ontario

₄₂

₅₉

30

56

!

187

645

7.25

324

1.99

I

I Total - Ontario

173

171

I

170

184

698

5184

3.37

TABLE IV

OCCUPANCY IN WHICH FATAL FIRE OCCURRED

In detail for

2

years Aggregate

Occupancy

1956-7

for four years

1C: .:l-. _IB ';r AC oil- _AB

*

1954-7

Residential

Unshared separate dwelling

6

₄₄

18

it

281

I Shared "

_"

-

7

2

₄₅

Apartment

1

5

2

9

36

Rooming house

-

-

1

6

17

Barracks etc.

-

-

-

-

₅

Hotel

-

-

-

₁₄

16

Summer cottage

-

1

₅

2

12

Shack or one-room dwelling

-

6

I

2

16

50

Dwelling - no further particulars

2

-

_Ｒｾ

6

91

Other or mixed

-

₃

11

27

Subtotal

₉

j

66

57

153

580

Non-residential Industrial

-

-

14

_I

16

₄₃

Mercantile

-

-

1

1

3

Office

-

-

-

-

-Institution, e.g. hospital,

home for aged

-

-

₄

2

12

Place of restraint, e.g. jail

-

-

-

-

-Place of assembly

-

-

1

-

1

Farm out-building

-

-

2

-

₇

Stationary vehicle

-

-

-

₄

10

Outdoors

₃

-

8

-

27

other or mixed

-

_h

1

8

15

Subtotal

₃

₄

₃₁

₃₁

118

--TOTAL

12

70

88

184

698

IC - Infant under seven, clothing fire IB - It

"

It _{building fire}

ｾｲ

,

AC - Person over seven, clothing fire AB - 1\ 1\ It

,

_{building fire}

NATURE OF FATAL INJURY

In detail for two years Aggregate

1956-7

for

Nature of fatal injury _{four [ears}

rc«

IB-l}

!

AC'il- ａｂｾＱｯ

_{195 -7}

i

Asphyxia

-

27

2

62

185

Burns

12

36

86

90

439

Carbon monoxide poisoning

-

₇

-

₂₄

₆₄

other injuries

-

-

-

8

10

Total

₁₂

₇₀

₈₈

₁₈₄

₆₉₈

IC - Infant under seven, clothing fire

IB -

_"

_"

_"

,

building fire

*

AC - Person over seven, clothing fire

TABLE VII

T'dO ａｾｈｃｔｓ OFＢｃａｕｾｆ i'F FIRE DEATH" (ON'TAhIr l':'5t and IS'57)

ｾｉｌｄｉｎｇ FIRE ｌｊｅａｔｈｾ )_ Total B Total C deaths deaths 39 313 37 35 4 6 8 2 30 1 1 3 1 23 6 1 2 9 17 1 2 5 5 9 11 3 5 10 1 2 1 1 1 ₄ 2 3 19 ILl 1 17 (, 1 3 3 1 2 8 1 8 B 3 9 3 1 7 106 13 13 2 25 9 2 9 2511 100 32 33 1 31 30 :?9 28

a

26 -

-

I - - - - ₁

-

-

-

₁ I 7 5 1 I - ₁ I 2 1 1 - -

-5 2

-

1 I - -: I 1 - 2 - -

-6 - -

-

1 -

-

- - 1 -

-

-7 -

- -

I

-

- - - -8

-

1 - - -I -

-

1

- -

-Source 9

- -

- -

- -

- - -

-

- -of 10 - -

- -

-I - - - -Igni tion 11 3 - - -

-I

-

- - 1 - 1 -I 12

-

-

- -

1 - - -

-ia

- -

- - -

- 1 - - -

-

1

I

10 2 - - - -

-

1 - - 1 -15 3 9 1 -

- - -

1 1

-

- 1 16 -

-

-

_- - - _- - 1 - - 1 17 1 -

-

- -

- -

- - - -

-18 2 3

- -

1 - - -

-19 1 : - - 1 -

- -

- 5 -

-

-Unknown 40 20 2 2 3 - 1 5 9

-

1

-ＭｾＭ｟ＮＭ TOTAL 95 40 5 4 6

-

S 9 2? - 4 Ii

Reason for fatal injury

Key: Source of ignition

1 Building iBnited as result of clothing fire. 2 Playing with matches, flames.

3 :'omeone fell asleep while smoking.

4 Other instances of smoking.

5 Injudicious use of flammable liquids. 6 Use of onen f'Lame s , welders' spark", etc.

7 mJrning rubbish not in incinerator; bonfires.

8 Explosions.

9 ＺＧ･ｬｦＭｾ･｡ｴｩｮｧ or spontaneous ignition.

10 Incendiarism.

Faulty maintenance or use of: Flectrical

-11 Cooking or cooking-heating appliances. 12 cpace-heating apoliances.

13 Other, including Wiring, lighting, radios, Christmas trees, etc.

Non electrical

-14 Cooking or cooking-heating appliances. 15 cpace-heating appliances.

16 Other, including lamps, chimneys and flues, etc.

17 Faulty design of appliances. 18 Faulty installation of appliances. 19 Other known sources, including mechanical

failures not adequately described by nos. 11 to 113.

Reason for fatal injury

21 Asleep in burning building and did not wal,e in time to attcm:ot escape (including coma induced by drugs, ｬｩｾｬｯｲＬ etc.)

Trapped by fire owing to:

22 Fire in anyone of the available exits. 23 Failure to find exit in darkness, smoke, etc. 24 Inability to open exit door.

25 Attempt to warn or save other(s). 26 Attempt to save material objects.

27 Loss of judgment due to fire (e.g., panic). 2R Loss of judgment due to other circumstances

(e.g., liquor, drugs).

29 Being overtaken by rapidly spreading fire, or fumes from the fire.

30 Forest/grass fire. 31 Other known reasons. 32 i,easons unknown.

33 rxplosions

34 Injured as a result of being engaged in fire-fighting or salvage operations -jllring fire. 35 Injured because of panic of otrcrs ｾｲ･ｳ･ｮｴＮ

3h Injured by falls, falling objects, etc. while escaping from fire.

37 InfBnt, Bnrt no other reason applicable, tut see 'l'able XIV.

38 ｾＧｲＧｮｲＧｬｰ･､ I.o c aus e l-edr-Ld de n , invalid, injured

｢ｾＱＧＨＩｲ･ fire, 01' ｾｰｮｩｬ･Ｎ

ｾＬ 1

.

I "T""---,ri---.,A-i I

.

.

_i

ＢｾＢ

CEILING 0 F.; F

.

s::: _I 0 0 0 : H 0 _ｯｾ s:: Inc. _r-l Com.

_I

r-l 'd :s:0 rl i as as lD'd s::: III ..,.----"...-..- +;) ...-.,. '. _{+> ｾ} s::: _..':l:: +> Ｇｾ 1 2 5 6 a 11 12 13 14 15 16 a 'rl al C- o

E-4 E-4 ＿ｾ ｾ E-4

" ( 1 35

-

-

-

35

-

- -

-

-

4 1 ₄

-

_{1 LjO}

s

Inc.

ｾ ｾ

-

17

-

-

17 2

-

2

-: I LI-

-

-

21 H

-

-

- - -

-

- -

-

-

-

-

-

-« _{2 2 3 3 5} 3

-

- -

-

-

-

-

-

-

-I Total Inc. 35 19

- -

54 i 5

-

2

-

-

4 11

-

1 66 I (11₁₂

-

-

_{- -}

-

-

-

-

- ) 12_-t

_-

₁

-

₂

-

-

_-

-

_{- -}

3 15

-

5 20 3

- -

3 Com. _<

ia

-

-

- - - -

_{- - -}

_{- I} 4

_-

-

21

- -

-

25

-

-

25 3

-

9

-

-

12

-

1 13 15

- -

-

-

!

-

-

- - - -

-

-

-

-

-16

- -

- -

,

-

₅

-

-

- -

_{18 23}

-

_{2 25} I ! i 4 78 8 1 86 Total Com.

-

- -

-

-

21 23 9

-

21

-Mixed Com.& Inc. 3

-

-

-

I ₃

- -

-

₆

- -

_{6 2}

3 14 I I Unknown I 1

-I

1 2

-

1

-

-

-

3

-

49 53 i I I Total _{139 19}

- - i

_{58 : 28 4} 26 15

-

25 98 2 61 219 I Non-residential 35 I

Clothing fire deaths 100

I

KEY

I

-

_{TOTAL fire deaths 354}

Inc.

₌

incombustible Ontario 1956-7

Com.

=

combu stible

1

₌

lath and plaster

2

₌

plasterboard

5

=

ceramic tile

6

₌

other or mixed Inc.

11

₌

wood

12

₌

plywood

13

₌

soft fibreboard

14

₌

pressed paperboard

15

₌

hardboard

TABLE IX

FIRE DEPART}ffilff ATTENDANCE AT FATAL

BUILDING FIRES (ONTARIO

1956-57)

C A S E S

r

1956

1957

Total

I

Fire attended solely by PD of

I

I

i

the municipality concerned.

₇₃

_I

₇₂

₁₄₅

I

I

Fire attended by another ,

1

1

municipal FD

₃

_!

17

20

I

Fire attended by both the

I

I

above

18

I

I

4

22

I

I

I j

I

Fire attended by some other

I I

i

I

fire fighting service, I

e.g. a works fire brigade

8

7

15

F'ire attended by the latter

4

and by municipal F'D (8)

₃

₁

No FD attended, or not known

I

whether a FD attended

_I

21

27

48

126

Total B cases

1 1 28

I

254

SIZE OF FATAL BUILDING FIRES

1956 1957

Contents only of room wher-e

the fire started ₇ 2

Damage confined to room of

_I

origin 8 38

Damage confined to story 12 I

,

9

I

Damage confined to building 80

_I

75

Fire extended to other

I

buildings ₉

-Unknown or not applicable 10

₄

Total 126

I

128 I

I

.1

TABLE XI STYLE OF GARMENT

Style of garment

1956

1957

Total

----,

Male victims: Shirt

₄

₇

11

Trousers

-

₅

₅

Jacket, sweater

₃

_I

2

₅

1 Coveralls

-

_I

₃

₃

Pyjamas

₃

I

2

5

Dressing gown

1

1

2 Other

1

I

2

2l-

I Unknown

13

I

11

_I

_I

, I _; I _ I ....

-

h I I

,

'Subtotal

₂₅

I

33

58

_i

I

!

_I

I Female victims: I Blouse

-

!I

-

-

_I

Skirt

-

_I

2 Ii

2

! Jacket, sweater

-

_I

1

1

_!

Dress, apron, smock

₅

_I

10

15

I

Pyjamas, nightgown

3

I_I

2

₅

I ! Dressing gown

₄

_I

1

I

5

i Other

-I

-

I

-

I

Unknown _{7 7} II

₁₄

I

!

--Subtotal

19

I

_i

23

42

!

ｾ

i ..- . - --:--

.

! _I h, Total

₄₄

I

56

100

,

-

-

---

!

FABRIC WORN BY VICTIM OF CLOTHING FIRE

I

Predominant Textile

1955

1956

1957

Total

-

ｾ｟Ｎ Cotton

11

9 24 Ｔｬｾ Wool

3

1

2 6 Rayon

-

2

-

2 Nylon

-

1

2

₃

Plastic

-

-

1

1

Silk

1

-

-

1

Linen

1

-

-

1

Unknown 22

₃₁

I

27

80

i , _i 1 --' ! i Total

38

₄₄

_I

56

138

Iｾ 'IIi _ _ _ _• _ _ _ _ _.--4

TABLE XIII

WHAT ACTION DID THE VICTIM TAKE?

1955 1956 1957 3totalyears

Tried to beat or

smother fire 10 3 9 22

Tried to use water or

other extinguishant 1 2 2 ₅

Tried to remove clothing 1 1

-

2

Unable to take effective action because infant,

senile or invalid 8 ₅ 6 19 No effective action (influence of liquor or drugs)

-

1

-

1 No effective action (panic) ₄ 6 6 16

No need to act: others

took action innnediately 1 6 10 17

Other reactions 1 1 ₅

₇

Unknown 12 19 18 ₄₉

WHY WAS THE PARENT OR OTHER PERSON RE8PONSIBLE NOT ABLE TO SAFEGUARD THE CHILD FIRE VICTIM?

1956 1957

Responsible person busy saving other person(s) or trying to

Responsible person injured (non-fatally) in the same fire

Responsible person injured fatally in the same fire

Someone performed hazardous operation 'in presence of infant

Responsible person's jUdgment impaired (e.g. by liquor or drugs)

Responsible person's judgment impaired (e.g. panic, hysterics, etc.)

Responsible person not there, or not in time, and no further particulars Responsible person not there: had left

infant for

5

minutes or more

Responsible person in same building at time of fire, but was not in time to save infant

Other known reasons Unknown Total 6 10

5

1

9

2 1

34

6

5

2

3

2 2 6

19

1 2

48

TABLE XV

GROSS ｎｕｍｂｅｒｾ OF EACH CLASS OF REPORT

Number of cases

Source of report reported on

1955 1956 1957

Fire Section of D.B.R. (A) ₂₅

₄₄

₃

Office of the Onto Fire Marshal (B) 72 33 66

Police (C) ₃₇ 16 ₃₄

Fire Chiefs (D) ₇₃ 78 116

Newsc1ippings (E) 127 130 135

TABLE XVI

IN HOW MANY CASES DOES THE SURVEY

RELY ON EACH CLASS OF REPORT?

Number of cases Source of report

1955 1956 1957 Total

Class A report available 25

ｾ

3 72

B report but no A available 60 63 149

C report but no A or B 21 8

ｾｾ

53

D report but no A, B or C 41 62 18l

E report but no A, B, C or D 9 10 ₇ 26

Vital Statistics report only 15 20 9

44

i

Total 171 170 ＱＸｌｾ rI 525

COMPLETENESS OF REPORTING (ONTARIO ＮｾＹＵＶＭＵＷＩ

-

,.-Soupce of Report

A or B C or D E V.S.

Question

---Proportion of cases where answer is "unknown"

Hour of day

1/136

22/172

3/17

23/23

Area and number of residents in B

fires in residences

9/123

41/87

6/6

2/2

Source of ignition

61/136

44/172

3/11

7/23

Why was infant not

safeguarded?

0/48

3/31

0/3

0/0

Fabric in clothing fire

6/10

25/60

i

_9/10

_15/17

i

J

Victim's reaction in I

clothing fire

1/10

15/60

I!

6/10

15/17

j

Reason for fatal injury

2/126 ..

5/112

i

I

1n building fires I

_1/7

1/6

I

I

Wall or ceiling lining \

in building fires in

residences

9/123

48/87

6/6

2/2

Example: In the second column, second row, there is the fraction

41/87;

this means that there were

87

building fires in residences where a C or a D report was made but no A or B report. Of these

87,

the dimensions of the building or the number of residents (or both) were given

as "unknown" or "uncertain" in

41

cases.

NATURAL DEATHS 121276

01

FURTHER ANALYSED BELOW TRANSPORT SUICIDE FI RE 4208 1226 628

FALLS DROWN ING OTH E R

1582 783 2258

FIGURE I

FIRE COMPARED WITH OTHER CAUSES OF

UJ4

•

l-

•

e:(

•

•

Cl::

•

•

:I: l-e:( UJ 0

•

•

• •

•

•

•

•

_•

_{• •}

•

_•

2 30 32 34 36 38 42 44 46 48 52 56 0'1 0 0 I'-N· V 10 10 0'1 m YEAR m m FIGURE 2

TREND OF FIRE DEATH RATE. (CANADA 1929-57)

(BASED ON DOMINION FIRE COMMISSIONER'S STATISTICAL REPORTS)

7 6 5 UJ l-e:( Cl:: 4 :r: l-e:( UJ o 3 UJ 0:: ii: 2 NATIONAL AVERAGE

1

- - - -

-B.C. ALTA SASK MAN ONT QUE N.B. N.S. P.E.I. NFLD

FIGURE 3

FIRE DEATH RATE BY PROVINCES. (CANADA 1951-6)

698 CASES 5 UJ 1-4 e:t a: J: ｾ 3 UJ o UJ ｾＲ LL J F M A M J J A SON 0 FIGURE 4

FIRE DEATH RATE BY MONTHS. (ONTARIO 1954 -7) ＶｲＭＭＭＮＮＮＮＬＮＮＮＭＭｯｲＭＭＭＮＭＬＭＭＭｔＭＭＮＭＬＭＭＭｾＭ ... 698 CASES 5 UJ ｾＴ a: J: I-<2:3 UJ o ｾＲ LL OL..-_-..L.._ _"'-_...L.._ _. l . . . - _ - - L ._ _..L...-_... 5 M T

w

T F 5 FIGURE 5 i

FIRE DEATH RATE BY DAY OF WEEK. (ONTARIO 1954 -7)

7 6 lJJ

...

«5

0:: :I:

...

«4

lJJ

o

lJJ 0::: 3 -u,

2

555 CASES WITH

KNOWN TIME OF OCCURRENCE

MID 2

NIGHT

4 6 8 10 NOON 2 4 6 8 10 MID

NIGHT

FIGURE 6

90 80 70 60 40 50 AGE 30 20 10 2 8 10r__---,...--..,...----,.--"""T"""--.,r---...,...--.,..---ro---, (f) :I: ｾＶ w c UJ ｾＴ LL FIGURE 7

NUMBER OF FIRE DEATHS EACH YEAR IN EACH ONE YEAR AGE GROUP. (ONTARIO 1954 -7)

10r---...,....--.,..---,.---r---r---...,...--..,...-,...--.., w8 I- W ｾ :I: a::

...

:I:

...

6 a::₀ LLo.: ｾ UJ ｾ［ＺＺＩ 0 ' 0 ｾ｡ＺＺ w4

..

C) a:: a:: + LL 0 0 LLCX) 2 10 20 30 40 50 AGE 60 70 80 90 FIGURE 8

FIRE DEATH RATE BY AGE OF VICTIM. (ONTARIO 1954-7)

to-z6 LIJ u a:: LIJ Q.4 2 10 20 30 40 50 AGE 60 70 80 90 FIGURE 9

PROPORTION OF DEATHS THAT ARE DUE TO FIRE.

(ONTARIO 1954-7) 5r--....--.,...-,.--..,...----r--...---,r---r-...,.----_ >-0:: <3: 0::4 t-m 0:: ex 00 3 I-Z :::> -2 >-u Z L&.J :::>1 o L&.J 0:: LL. 256 B CASES IN RESIDENCES 50 70 100 150 200 300 500 700 1000

SQUARE FEET PER PERSON

FIGURE 10

WAS THE FIRE VICTIM'S DWELLING OVERCROWDED?