TY - JOUR
T1 - Community Fire Risk Reduction: Longitudinal Assessment for HomeSafe Fire Prevention Program in Canada
AU - Al-Hajj, Samar
AU - Thomas, Larry
AU - Morris, Shelly
AU - Clare, Joe
AU - Jennings, Charles
AU - Biantoro, Chris
AU - Garis, Len
AU - Pike, Ian
PY - 2023/7/15
Y1 - 2023/7/15
N2 - (1) Background: Residential fires represent the third leading cause of unintentional injuries globally. This study aims to offer an overview and a longitudinal evaluation of the HomeSafe program implemented in Surrey in 2008 and to assess its effectiveness in mitigating fire-related outcomes. (2) Methods: Data were collected over a 12-year period (2008–2019). Assessed outcomes comprised frequency of fire incidents, residential fires, casualties, functioning smoke alarms, and contained fires. The effectiveness of each initiative was determined by comparing the specific intervention group outcome and the city-wide outcome to the pre-intervention period. (3) Results: This study targeted 120,349 households. HomeSafe achieved overwhelming success in decreasing fire rates (−80%), increasing functioning smoke alarms (+60%), increasing the percentage of contained fires (+94%), and decreasing fire casualties (−40%). The study findings confirm that the three most effective HomeSafe initiatives were firefighters’ visits of households, inspections and installations of smoke alarms, and verifications of fire crew alarms at fire incidents. Some initiatives were less successful, including post-door hangers (+12%) and package distribution (+15%). (4) Conclusions: The HomeSafe program effectively decreased the occurrence and magnitude of residential fires. Lessons learned should be transferred to similar contexts to implement an evidence-based, consistent, and systematic approach to sustainable fire prevention initiatives.
AB - (1) Background: Residential fires represent the third leading cause of unintentional injuries globally. This study aims to offer an overview and a longitudinal evaluation of the HomeSafe program implemented in Surrey in 2008 and to assess its effectiveness in mitigating fire-related outcomes. (2) Methods: Data were collected over a 12-year period (2008–2019). Assessed outcomes comprised frequency of fire incidents, residential fires, casualties, functioning smoke alarms, and contained fires. The effectiveness of each initiative was determined by comparing the specific intervention group outcome and the city-wide outcome to the pre-intervention period. (3) Results: This study targeted 120,349 households. HomeSafe achieved overwhelming success in decreasing fire rates (−80%), increasing functioning smoke alarms (+60%), increasing the percentage of contained fires (+94%), and decreasing fire casualties (−40%). The study findings confirm that the three most effective HomeSafe initiatives were firefighters’ visits of households, inspections and installations of smoke alarms, and verifications of fire crew alarms at fire incidents. Some initiatives were less successful, including post-door hangers (+12%) and package distribution (+15%). (4) Conclusions: The HomeSafe program effectively decreased the occurrence and magnitude of residential fires. Lessons learned should be transferred to similar contexts to implement an evidence-based, consistent, and systematic approach to sustainable fire prevention initiatives.
KW - residential fires
KW - risk management
KW - intervention strategies
KW - Longitudinal
KW - injury prevention
U2 - 10.3390/ijerph20146369
DO - 10.3390/ijerph20146369
M3 - Article
C2 - 37510600
SN - 1660-4601
VL - 20
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
IS - 14
M1 - 6369
ER -