Historical Progression of Fire Problem in the United States

Fire Death Rate in the United States
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Fire Death Rate in the United States
Fire deaths remain one of the significant issues in the United States despite the heavy investments that the country has made in its fire department. Compared to its peers, the country has the best response rate to fire disasters and highly advanced fire suppression technologies. Thus, it is essential to investigate the factors responsible for the US lag in death rates compared to its peers. In this essay, the historical progression of fire deaths and disparity in fire risk mitigation is examined.
Historical Progression
Notably, there has been a historical reduction in the number of fire deaths reported in the United States over time. The number of deaths was 7,645 in 1960, a number that fell to 7,347 by 1965. Eleven years later, the number of deaths due to fire had fallen to 5,998. As of 2001, the number of deaths reported due to fire in the United States had reduced to 3,326 deaths representing a 56 percent decline in the number of fire deaths (Eisenberg, 2005). Nonetheless, it is essential to note that the population increased by 105 million during the 41 years with the fire death rate. Taking into account the population, the death rate declined from 42.3 per million persons in 1979 to 11.7 per million persons in 2001 (Eisenberg, 2005).
The majority of declines reported during the period were the number of house fire deaths. In 1979, the total number of house fire deaths was 4,863, which declined to 2,604 in 2001 translating to a 46.5 percent decline in house fires (Eisenberg, 2005). The decline in the number of residential fire deaths during the same period was 58 percent. Consequently, the house fire deaths as of 2001 had the largest contribution to the number of fire deaths reported in the United States.
Interestingly, the decline in fire death rates is unimpressive when the country is compared to its peers. An analysis of fire deaths from 1979 to 1992 shows that the United States had one of the highest fire death rates at 26.5 deaths per million. As of 1992, the country had 30-50 percent higher cases of fire deaths than its comparable peers did (United States Fire Administration, 1997). Given the significant investment that the country has made in its fire department, the United States should not be so far behind its peers in fire safety.
The disparity in Fire Risk Mitigation
Despite the high number of fire deaths reported in the United States, the efforts to address fire deaths remain scant due to lower perception of risks and costs. Notably, the focus when dealing with fire largely remains responding to the fire as opposed to mitigating the fires. The government has invested in making sure that the firefighter departments are adequately equipped to respond to fires as quickly as possible by investing heavily in fire suppression measures. Th...