The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has released its latest set of statistics on U.S. fires in 1997. Public fire departments responded to 1,795,000 fires last year; that's down 9.1 percent from 1996, but it still means that a fire breaks out somewhere in the country every 18 seconds. As I was reading this information, over the scanner I monitored the adjacent Englewood, NJ, Fire Department being dispatched to a phone alarm. Units arrived on the scene, reported smoke showing and said they were stretching a line. It happens every 18 seconds.
According to the NFPA, there were 552,000 structure fires last year, 406,000 of them in residential properties. There were 397,000 vehicle fires and 856,000 fires in outside properties. Nationwide, a fire death occurred every 130 minutes. There were 4,050 civilian fire deaths, a decrease of 18.8 percent. Nationwide, there was a civilian fire injury every 22 minutes. In 1997, 23,750 civilians were injured, a decrease of 7.1 percent. An estimated $8.525 billion in damage occurred as a result of fire in 1997, a decrease of 9.4 percent. An estimated 78,500 structure fires were deliberately set or were suspicious. There were 47,500 vehicle fires of incendiary or suspicious origin, up 5.9 percent.
Sometimes we need to stop and blow our own horn for a minute. We've received rave reviews for our Professional Information Programs and workshops recently held at the Firehouse® Emergency Services Expo in Baltimore. When it comes to seminars, we don't take a back seat to anybody. The success of these programs is directly related to the Firehouse® Magazine contributing editors who present up-to-date topics each year to accommodate the changing needs of the fire service. Their expertise and experience are apparent and we are proud that they are on our team.
Boston District Chief Robert M. Winston was in command and ordered firefighters to withdraw from a burning 3-decker, which had sustained damage from a gas explosion, seconds before the building collapsed. He provides a first-person account of the operation on page 52. FDNY Captain John Norman, soon to be promoted to battalion chief, recently responded as part of an almost month-long operation at the scene of the collapse of a top portion of a scaffold that was attached to a 40-story office building under construction near Times Square, near the quarters of Rescue 1 and Engine 65. Watch for his report in an upcoming issue. Lieutenant Fred Endrikat of the Philadelphia Fire Department responded to Florida as part of FEMA's advance incident support team before Hurricane Georges hit.
These are some recent examples of the jobs our people do each and every day; every 18 seconds, to be exact. And that's not even counting their responses to EMS and other emergency calls. That would be almost non-stop.
