Changes in the age structure of the population pose challenges to many areas of society, such as public finances, social and health service needs, infrastructure and society's systems and practices in general. In Finland, due to low birth rates and increased life expectancy, the proportion of older people in the population is increasing. Preparations have been made for the change in the age structure in different administrative sectors, but the impact of the changes on accidents, such as home fires, has not been studied in Finland.
According to previous studies, elderly people are at a higher risk of being injured in fires. Limited capability to function may reduce the ability to react in the event of a fire and compromise the evacuation safety. As the age dependency ratio of the population weakens, the number of older people living at home can be expected to increase. The Finnish National Rescue Association conducted a study on the impact of ageing populations on regional fire safety risks (2022). The impact of different age groups on the prevalence of building fires was studied using supervised machine learning methods and spatial data on age structures and building fires from 2008 to 2020. The analysed data include age data and a geospatial grid from the Statistics Finland and accident information from the fire and rescue service’s official register of incidents. In addition, the regional impact assessment utilised open data on the key figures of municipalities by the Statistics Finland's from 1987-2021.
The results indicate that people over 70-years of age, as well as young adults (20-29 y. o.), are more susceptible to building fires than other age groups. According to the official population projection for the whole country, the number of elderly people will increase 10 % in next 50 years. There are large differences in the demographic structure between different municipalities. As the number of elderly people increases, it is likely that people will live home longer in the future, considering the weakening of the age dependency ratio and its possible impact on, for example, the resources of nursing homes. Therefore, there will be a need for more fire-safe housing solutions that are achievable regardless of the socio-economic situation. The risk of fire can be reduced, for example, with technical solutions, such as a safer stoves or stove safety devices.

Keywords: Home safety, community safety, fire safety

The Finnish National Rescue Association - Helsinki - Uusimaa - Finland

Introduction:
Cooking is the biggest single cause of home fires in Finland. Unsupervised cooking, atypical use of the stove and a lack of stove safety features pose a risk that could be prevented. Stove fires occur in all population groups, but they pose a significant risk, especially for older people and for those with limited capability to function. Stove fire incidents may not always be reported to the rescue services if the smoke damages can be handled by the resident. Therefore, the official statistics do not reflect the actual annual number of stove fires.

Objectives:
Stove fire ignition, effects, and prevention was studied in a joint research project (2020-2022) by Aalto University, The Finnish National Rescue Association, the Emergency Services Academy Finland, and the Finnish Safety and Chemicals Agency. Later, the study was supplemented with data from the insurance company (2023). In this presentation, the main findings and conclusion of both research projects are presented. The aim is to increase awareness of the stove safety and accident prevention.

Methods:
To form the overall picture, information on ignition rates, fire ignition mechanisms, flammable materials and prevalence of different stove types and stove safety devices was obtained. The analysed data include information from the fire and rescue service’s official register of incidents (2016-2020), fire investigation reports (1998-2020) and data collected from a media survey (2020-2021) and a citizen survey (2021). These were compared with the insurance company's data (2017–2020).

Results:
The results indicate that the main causes of stove fire ignition are additional materials stored on or near the stove and unsupervised cooking. Observations were consistent between all data sources. Food is the first material to ignite in most of the cases (67 %), but in a quarter of them the first material to ignite is a mixed household item. Most incidents caused by food ignition remain smaller fire hazards, but fires igniting from grease usually spread into the largest fires. The use of stove safety features is rare.

Conclusion
Number of stove fire incidents reported in media is low considering their annual occurrence. Therefore, citizens have fewer opportunity to learn from the accidents and identify their prevalence and associated risks. According to previous studies, the number of stove fires can be reduced with stove safety technology and informing residents about the potential hazards.

Keywords: Stove fires, stove safety, fire safety, accident prevention, home safety

The Finnish National Rescue Association SPEK - Helsinki - Uusimaa - FinlandTarja Ojala (SPEK), Jukka Lepistö (Finnish Safety and Chemicals Agency)