Purpose and Limitations of Fire Statistics

Fire statistics play a vital role in the development of safety policies. They make it possible to objectively track trends over time, evaluate the outcomes of public policies, quantify risks for different populations, and prioritize prevention efforts based on the most severe or most frequent types of fires. They are also useful for forecasting, providing a foundation of indicators for planning operational resources, mapping risk at the regional level, and designing actuarial tools related to insurance. Finally, they inform standard-setting and regulatory work, particularly when it comes to justifying changes in requirements or the introduction of mandatory measures.

However, statistics alone cannot serve as the sole basis for a fire safety policy. They reflect changes over long time periods and are therefore not very responsive to emerging trends or recent technological...