Estimating the Total Number of Residential Fire-Related Incidents and Underreported Residential Fire Incidents in New South Wales, Australia by Using Linked Administrative Data

Nargess Ghassempour, W. Kathy Tannous, Gulay Avsar, Kingsley E. Agho and Lara A. Harvey
Additional contact information
Nargess Ghassempour: School of Business, Western Sydney University, Parramatta, NSW 2150, Australia
W. Kathy Tannous: School of Business, Western Sydney University, Parramatta, NSW 2150, Australia
Gulay Avsar: School of Business, Western Sydney University, Parramatta, NSW 2150, Australia
Kingsley E. Agho: Translational Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Campbelltown, NSW 2560, Australia
Lara A. Harvey: Fall, Balance and Injury Research Centre, Neuroscience Research Australia, Randwick, NSW 2031, Australia

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 13, 1-14

Abstract: The rate of fires, and particularly residential fires, is a serious concern in industrialized countries. However, there is considerable uncertainty regarding the reported numbers of residential fire incidents as official figures are based on fires reported to fire response agencies only. This population-based study aims to quantify the total number of residential fire incidents regardless of reporting status. The cohort comprised linked person-level data from Fire and Rescue New South Wales (FRNSW) and health system and death records. It included all persons residing at a residential address in New South Wales, Australia, that experienced a fire between 1 January 2005 and 31 December 2014. The capture-recapture method was used to estimate the underreporting number of residential fire-related incidents. Over the study period, 43,707 residential fire incidents were reported to FRNSW, and there were 2795 residential fire-related health service utilizations, of which 2380 were not reported. Using the capture-recapture method, the total number of residential fire incidents was estimated at 267,815 to 319,719, which is more than six times the official records. This study found that 15% of residential fire incidents that were identified in health administrative dataset were reported. The residential fire incidents that were not reported occurred mainly in socio-economically disadvantaged areas among males and adults.

Keywords: underreported residential fire incidents; linked data; health economics; epidemiology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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