Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut 11-0236, Lebanon.
British Columbia Injury Research and Prevention Unit, British Columbia Children's Hospital Research Institute, Vancouver, BC V6H 3V4, Canada.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Jul 15;20(14):6369. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20146369.
(1) Background: Residential fires represent the third leading cause of unintentional injuries globally. This study aims to offer an overview and a longitudinal evaluation of the HomeSafe program implemented in Surrey in 2008 and to assess its effectiveness in mitigating fire-related outcomes. (2) Methods: Data were collected over a 12-year period (2008-2019). Assessed outcomes comprised frequency of fire incidents, residential fires, casualties, functioning smoke alarms, and contained fires. The effectiveness of each initiative was determined by comparing the specific intervention group outcome and the city-wide outcome to the pre-intervention period. (3) Results: This study targeted 120,349 households. HomeSafe achieved overwhelming success in decreasing fire rates (-80%), increasing functioning smoke alarms (+60%), increasing the percentage of contained fires (+94%), and decreasing fire casualties (-40%). The study findings confirm that the three most effective HomeSafe initiatives were firefighters' visits of households, inspections and installations of smoke alarms, and verifications of fire crew alarms at fire incidents. Some initiatives were less successful, including post-door hangers (+12%) and package distribution (+15%). (4) Conclusions: The HomeSafe program effectively decreased the occurrence and magnitude of residential fires. Lessons learned should be transferred to similar contexts to implement an evidence-based, consistent, and systematic approach to sustainable fire prevention initiatives.
(1) 背景：住宅火灾是全球导致非故意伤害的第三大主要原因。本研究旨在概述和纵向评估 2008 年在萨里实施的 HomeSafe 计划，并评估其在减轻与火灾相关后果方面的有效性。
(2) 方法：数据收集时间跨度为 12 年（2008-2019 年）。评估的结果包括火灾事件、住宅火灾、伤亡人数、功能正常的烟雾报警器和受控火灾的频率。通过将特定干预组的结果和全市范围的结果与干预前时期进行比较，确定了每项举措的有效性。
(3) 结果：本研究针对 120349 户家庭。HomeSafe 计划在降低火灾发生率（-80%）、增加功能正常的烟雾报警器（+60%）、增加受控火灾的比例（+94%）和降低火灾伤亡人数（-40%）方面取得了巨大成功。研究结果证实，HomeSafe 计划中最有效的三项举措是消防队员对家庭的访问、烟雾报警器的检查和安装，以及在火灾事件中对消防队员报警的核实。有些举措效果较差，包括门后挂牌（+12%）和包裹分发（+15%）。
(4) 结论：HomeSafe 计划有效地降低了住宅火灾的发生和严重程度。应将经验教训应用于类似情况，以实施基于证据、一致和系统的可持续火灾预防举措。
