The United States Fire Administration (USFA) recently released a report that maintains adults age 65 and older are 2 1/2 times more likely to die in a fire than the overall U.S. population. The underlying premise is based on the fact that as Americans age, their risk of fire increases accordingly.
The report, “Fire and the Older Adult,” was developed by the National Fire Data Center, part of the USFA, and is based on research from a number of public and private organizations.
The report analyzes the fire risk for persons age 65 and older as a complement to USFA’s fire safety campaign for people aged 50 or more.
According to the 2002 data by National Fire Incident Reporting Systems (NFIRS), 34 percent of the people who died in residential fires and 14 percent of those who were injured were over the age of 65.
