Alcohol and drugs may have played a role in at least one in three fatal fires between 2011 and 2020 in Canada, suggests a Statistics Canada study released in the past week.
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Year after year, about 220 people died each year in fires in the country during the 2010 decade, the vast majority (81%) during accidental fires.
Consumption of alcohol or drugs was noted in at least 31% of accidental claims, noted Statistics Canada by drawing up a statistical portrait of fires in the country.
“Alcohol or drug intoxication can impair judgment and coordination, which can increase the risk of accidentally starting a fire, or difficulty responding to it (e.g. ability to wake up) and escape,” the authors noted, adding that the 31% rate could be much higher, given that no information on drug or alcohol use is available for 54% of fires.
Smokers would also be well advised to be wary, as cigarettes are responsible for 20% of fatal fires analyzed by Statistics Canada, twice as many cooking fires (10%) or electrical fires (8%).
According to the study, dozens of deaths could potentially have been prevented over the past decade in the country.
“From 2011 to 2020, at least one of these more frequently reported modifiable risk factors (i.e. alcohol and drug use prior to the event, non-functional smoke detector, and smoking as a source of ‘ignition) was reported in about half of unintentional residential fire deaths,” Statistics Canada said.
Demographically, men are 1.5 times more likely than women to perish in a fire. Older people are also much more vulnerable, with one in three fatal fires involving a person aged 70 and over, even though this age group represents only one-eighth of the population.