Electrical Fires

WMFS OFFICIAL – NEW – FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST – FOI24088 

Ref: FOI/24088 

RE: FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 REQUEST 

I am writing to confirm that the West Midlands Fire Service has now completed its search for the information you requested further to your Freedom of Information request. 

Please find below a summary of our findings. 

Request 

1. How many electrical fires has the service responded to in the last three years (between April 6-April 5 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24) ? 

1a) Of these, how many incidents were in domestic properties and how many commercial? Broken down by year. 

1b) Of these incidents, how many were caused by electrical products? What were the other causes? 

1c) What were the 5 most common products to cause electrical fires for each year? 

2. How many fatalities has the service recorded as a result of electrical fires in the last three years (between April 6-April 5 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24) ? 

2a) How many injuries (serious and slight) has the service recorded as a result of electrical fires during the same period? 

Reply 

Please see attached 

Please note the following: 

• The date range used is the 6^th April – midnight 5^th April for the three requested financial years: 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24 

• The data is in the same format as what is published on the Birmingham City Observatory, with the added header ‘Source Power’, which has been filtered by ‘Electric’ only 

• The following columns can be filtered to answer the questions: 

• 1a. Property type group 

• 1b. Source of ignition group 

• 1c. Source of ignition 

• 2a. We do not break down injuries by slight or serious. Use the columns ‘injuries’ and ‘fatalities’ 

For service complaints, issues or comments regarding this request please contact The Public Relations Department, West Midlands Fire Service, 99 Vauxhall Road, Birmingham, B7 4HW 

Further information concerning Freedom of Information requests can be found on the Information Commissioner website at either the following link: https://ico.org.uk/ or at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF.