The Fire Marshall’s Office of the Raleigh Fire Department keeps a close eye on fire statistics. That’s because statistics allow the department to focus its efforts on geographical areas that may have a specific public safety need. Stats also help RFD keep track of resources that are needed to mitigate hazards.
This year’s first quarter saw an increased number of all fires. The number of fires increased to 333, compared to 319 fires in the previous quarter.
Smoking Fires Up
Fires related to the leading cause – unattended cooking – decreased by 22 percent. There were 48 cooking fires, compared to 62 during the last quarter of 2023. But fires associated with inappropriately discarded smoking materials (the second leading cause of fires) increased to 10 fires from eight fires during the previous quarter.
“As we roll into summer, which usually leads to hot and humid conditions, we can expect smoking-related fires to continue to increase due to more folks participating in outdoor activities coupled with the dry conditions,” says Capt. James Pearce. “It’s important to always extinguish smoking materials in an approved ‘butt can’ or in sand or water. Never use a potted plant as an ash tray!”
Pearce adds that Raleigh Fire has already seen a problem with property-damaging fires resulting from this in the second quarter of 2024.
Financial losses that resulted from fires more than doubled in the first quarter, to $4.7 million from $2 million. “Although a doubling of losses seems like a significant increase, these numbers are most of the time hard to quantify due to things such as property type, location, and the extent of fire conditions faced by suppression units upon dispatch and arrival,” Pearce explains. “When you compare the amount of loss to the amount of dollars saved, this is still not a huge amount of financial loss in the big picture.”
The number of emergency medical services calls that the Raleigh Fire Department responded to decreased. RFD responded to 8,558 EMS calls during the first quarter, compared to 8,814 EMS calls at the end of last year.
| 2024 Quarter 1 Statistics | |
|---|---|
| All Fires (All fire responses including brush fires, vehicle fires, dumpster fires, etc., along with residential and commercial property fires) | 333 |
| -Residential Fires | 90 |
| -Commercial Fires | 18 |
| -Cooking Fires | 48 (44 percent of fires in buildings) |
| -Smoking Materials Fires | 10 (9 percent of fires in buildings) |
| Approximate Dollar Loss Due to Fire | $4.7 million |
| Fires Extinguised by a Sprinkler System | 4 |
| Fire Department EMS Responses | 8,558 (62 percent of all responses) |
