Research on effectiveness of residential fire safety surveys

[auxman]

I've seen that some departments will offer to come out to people's houses and conduct a fire safety inspection. While this could be a help to that homeowner and has some obvious public relations benefits, I'm dubious that any department could conduct enough of these to make a difference.

Has anyone come across any research showing lower fire rates, fatality rates, etc. linked to conducting such voluntary inspections? In particular, what percentage of homes in a city might need to be inspected to have an noticeable impact?

I think there is some value there, but perhaps other residential-focused educational efforts might give more bang-for-the-buck.

[fire49]

We have done a few neighborhood walks and kept in house stats, nothing tracked

But we do have maybe 60% of pre smoke detector required homes

In the walks have found no detectors, maybe one detector, non working detectors

Gas fired heater vents loose, electrical problems

Have we saved a life maybe

I feel the direct no knock meetings have worked the best for us

[auxman]

I feel the direct no knock meetings have worked the best for us

I'm not sure what you mean by that. When I see "no knock" I think of cops busting into houses with search warrants ...

[fire49]

Cold calling

Just walk a block and knock on every door

[ChiefKN]

We used to do this when we were called to a residence for ANY reason... We didn't keep records and the program no longer exists.

It was mostly a complimentary smoke detector inspection. We also provided smoke detectors and batteries.

[auxman]

Well, I haven't yet come across any research on this topic in particular, but while looking I was reminded of the primary causes of most residential fires and deaths and frankly, I've just about come to the conclusion that detailed fire safety surveys probably wouldn't have much statistical impact.

Walk in and check the smoke detector and if its not working you've probably identified the factor that would be the most important thing to fix. Not an earth shattering surprise, of course. Doing that is hardly something that takes a trained firefighter.