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Death, Injury, Dollar Loss

Click to see original imageCentral Utahns joined. just recently, in observing Fire Prevention Week. We believe that in retrospect. people of the area can benefit by some facts and figures on fires developed by the National Fire Data Center, U.S. Department of Commerce. Fire, says the center in a summary report, each year causes thousands of deaths. hundreds of thousands of injuries, and billions of dollars of property loss. It causes more loss of life and property than all natural disasters combined – which is quite a statement. As might be expected, fire deaths are highest in the home. Residential fires are the main killer and should receive high priority in prevention programs. The Data Center feels the use of smoke detectors. coupled with escape plans, is one of the promising ways to reduce the toll. Who dies? Among “civilians” (anyone not a fire-fighter) the very old and the very young are high risk groups. Nationwide. males outnumber females almost two to one as fire death victims. Fire-fighters have the nation’s most hazardous profession in terms of death rates. said the report. Where do fire deaths occur’? Residential areas rank No. 1 with 67.8 percent of the fatalities. Others: Transportation, 21.3 percent; stores and offices. 2 percent; basic industry. . percent; manufacturing. 1.7 percent; storage, 1.6 percent; institutions, 1.2 percent; and other. 4 percent. Unlike deaths, the risk of fire injury is highest for those in the 18-35 age group. and not the very young and very old. The major causes of residential fires are cooking. 18 percent; smoking, 13 percent; heating. 13 percent; incendiary-suspicious, 13 percent; electrical distribution. 7 percent; appliances. 7 percent; and children playing and spark from open flame, each 5 percent. Utah. in the year 1974-75 examined by the center, was one of the nine states with less than 26 deaths per million population. The other eight were Idaho. Colorado. Kansas. California. Wisconsin, New Jersey, Hawaii. and Florida. Most of the southem states were in the category of the highest death rate of 42 or greater per million. These are only a few of the statistics developed by the National Fire Data Center. it is up to each local ci-ty. town, county, and state to diagnose their problems and plan fire prevention programs. But the data center report underlines the seriousness of the fire problem and the crucial need for sound programs to counter the heavy destruction and loss of life. So They Soy “We didn’t want to see her suffer any more. She wanted to continue. but we finally convinced her it was futile.” – Joe Edwards, explaining how Stella Taylor, 46, was convinced by backers to stop 20 miles short of Florida on a marathon swim from the Bahamas. Her 51-hour journey set a new endurance swimming record for women. “We don’t need a transitional government. What we need is an election – for me to give it to the next elected president. That election will be the first Sunday in February in 1981. Not before.” – President Anastaslo Somoza, talking about the role of a threenation panel formed to mediate Nicaragua’s violent political rebellion. “The danger is in the verly nature of the sport. There is rea ly little you can do to make them safer.” – Ann Brown, head of the Americans for Democratic Ac-‘ tlon’s consumer affairs committee, calling for a nationwide U.S. ban on skateboards.