Bergen Gwendolyn, Frattaroli Shannon, Ballesteros Michael F, Ta Van M, Beach Crystal, Gielen Andrea C
National Center for Health Statistics, 3311 Toledo Road, Hyattsville, MD 20782, USA.
J Community Health. 2008 Apr;33(2):103-9. doi: 10.1007/s10900-007-9070-8.
Fires and burns are the fifth most common cause of unintentional injury deaths in the United States. To address fires and fire deaths, the National Fire Data Center (NFDC) established the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) as a surveillance system for fires. Delaware implemented NFIRS as the Delaware Fire Incident Reporting System (DFIRS), and is currently capturing all fires reported in the system. The objectives of this study are to: 1) understand the implementation of DFIRS; 2) analyze data from DFIRS to describe fire incidents; and 3) inform other states' fire surveillance efforts. We interviewed Delaware State Fire Marshal's Office personnel to understand the implementation of DFIRS and analyzed DFIRS data from May 2003 to December 2004 to examine data completeness, and characteristics of fires, smoke alarms, and fire injuries and deaths. DFIRS captures 100% of Delaware fires reported to fire departments. Data completeness for the fields examined ranged from 33% to 100%. Fires in which smoke alarms alerted occupants were significantly less likely to result in injury or death than fires in which smoke alarms did not. DFIRS has the potential to serve as a valuable fire prevention and fire analysis tool. For DFIRS to reach its full potential as a surveillance system, increased attention to data completeness is necessary.
火灾和烧伤是美国非故意伤害死亡的第五大常见原因。为应对火灾和火灾死亡问题，国家火灾数据中心（NFDC）建立了国家火灾事故报告系统（NFIRS）作为火灾监测系统。特拉华州将NFIRS实施为特拉华州火灾事故报告系统（DFIRS），目前正在收集该系统中报告的所有火灾信息。本研究的目的是：1）了解DFIRS的实施情况；2）分析DFIRS数据以描述火灾事故；3）为其他州的火灾监测工作提供信息。我们采访了特拉华州消防局长办公室的人员以了解DFIRS的实施情况，并分析了2003年5月至2004年12月的DFIRS数据，以检查数据完整性以及火灾、烟雾报警器、火灾伤亡的特征。DFIRS收集了向消防部门报告的100%的特拉华州火灾信息。所检查字段的数据完整性范围为33%至100%。与烟雾报警器未发出警报的火灾相比，烟雾报警器提醒居住者的火灾导致受伤或死亡的可能性要小得多。DFIRS有潜力成为一种有价值的火灾预防和火灾分析工具。为使DFIRS作为监测系统充分发挥其潜力，有必要更加关注数据完整性。
