NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Fire killed 143 people in Tennessee in 2003, a 40 percent increase in the number of deaths from a year earlier, the state said Friday.

For its population, Tennessee's fire death rate is twice the national average and second only to Mississippi as the worst in the country.

Because of that, Tennessee Fire Marshal Paula Flowers said she has begun stepping up enforcement of a state law requiring that all fires be reported to her office within 10 days of the incident.

Flowers sent a letter earlier this week to fire chiefs and local leaders across Tennessee explaining the importance of the online Tennessee Fire Incident Reporting System.

``The reporting requirement has been in the law for years, and yet some of the largest and best-staffed fire departments in the state have failed to provide us with this critical information,'' Flowers said.

The state uses TFIRS to analyze the cause of fatal fires, determine who is most at risk, and improve its prevention efforts, she said.

``If Tennessee's child mortality or cancer rate had gone up 40 percent in a year, the public would be up in arms demanding action, and rightfully so,'' Flowers said. ``This problem is just as deadly, and we need to be able to research it in order to respond to it.''

TFIRS software and online training is free to fire departments.

Tennessee had 104 fire fatalities in 2002.