New BCIRPU research finds that a child’s risk of death or injury in a residential fire was greatly reduced in neighbourhoods with larger than average households.

The study is the first to broadly investigate the socioeconomic factors that affect fire incidence and fire-related injuries and death at the neighbourhood level in Canada. Researchers examined data from BC, Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario on fire incidence and injury along with neighbourhood-level data on income, education level, unemployment rate and number of people per home. They found that the single factor with the greatest impact on safety was household size; in neighbourhoods with larger households, each additional person reduced a child’s risk of getting injured by 60 per cent and an adult’s risk by 25 per cent. In this study, average household size ranged from 1.8 to 4.4 people per home.

Web Story (BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute)

Journal Article (CMAJ Open)