What recent assessment has been made of the cost of house fires to the public purse in Wales?
The public cost of a dwelling fire varies significantly depending the location and severity of fire, the number of appliances that respond, whether they are crewed by wholetime or on-call firefighters, whether an ambulance and/or police response is also needed, and whether any casualties receive hospital treatment. Calculating the total or average public costs of such fires would be complex. Nor would it be particularly useful for service delivery or policy development, as any house fire will always receive a response regardless of cost.
However, the main impact of a dwelling fire is on individuals who lose property and possessions, and may suffer injury or loss of earnings. Those costs may significantly outweigh the cost to the public purse. That is why we continue to focus on reducing the number of house fires in Wales and minimising the severity of them when they do occur. Since 2005 the number of accidental dwelling fires has reduced by 34%, and is now at an all-time low.