UK house fire statistics & common causes of fires | Morgan Clark
Z.
It rather depends what you mean by “caused by electricity” - a chip pan catching fire on an electric stove would not have happened if the electricity was off, but equally it is not exactly fair to lump it in the same category as overloaded or rat damaged cables.
The figures for fixed wiring and appliances are also well worth breaking apart for the same reason - failures in the fixed wiring that go on to cause a fire are the minority - tumble driers, irons and carelessly placed hair curling tongs etc make up the bulk. To which we should now add the cheaper plug in switch mode power supplies.
So user carelessness with electricity, rather than dangerous installation.
And really, the no1 spot is, and always has been, cooking.
Mike.
broadgage:
Agree, misuse of electrical appliances rather than defective electrical work in most cases.
In Germany in 2010, a third of all building fires were caused by defective electric installations. Official figures from the electricians' professional society ZVEI.
If correct that is a surprisingly high fraction, seemingly far higher than in countries where who can install what electrically is much less tightly regulated, perhaps unionization is not working?Having worked in Berlin back in the early 2000s I am also minded to ask what fraction were in the former Eastern bloc, as there is, or at least was back then , a huge disparity between the soviet style wiring (2 wires no earth, narrower pins on sockets, aluminium wiring, far greater areas served per circuit) and the western side of things that was quite modern in approach at the time.
Or are there just far fewer fires generally, leaving a few electrical ones to dominate ? Absolute numbers also might be good.
Mike
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