|
A NEW report from the US National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) points to improving fire safety in hotels in America.
Based on fire service data collected from 2002-05, US Hotel and Motel Structure Fires concludes that the average number of annual fire deaths fell to 11 in the period, compared to 37 in 1992-2005. There were also fewer injuries per year – 144 in 2002-05, compared to 345 in the previous four-year period.
Despite the fact that one in every 12 hotels or motels reported a structure fire each year, most fires were minor; only 8% extended beyond the room of origin.
However, the report notes that, although only 12% of the fires began in bedrooms, these accounted for 74% of the fire deaths and 41% of injuries.
The NFPA report also underlines the benefits of the widespread provision of sprinkler systems in US hotels. There has never been a fire death in a sprinklered hotel in the US, and 41% of all the fires reported were in sprinklered buildings. In addition, annual direct property damage from hotel fires was US$64m in 2002-05 and was, on average, 73% less in buildings fully fitted with sprinkler systems.
The report, US Hotel and Motel Structure Fires, by Marty Ahrens, is available from website: www.nfpa.org/
|