Fires cost lives, environment and millions

Every year, thousands of rescue operations are carried out to extinguish fires in buildings in Sweden. Both the fire and the extinguishing work cost both society and the environment a lot – not to mention the deaths that could have been avoided. A well-executed fire seal is the first step to better protection and safety.

Much has happened in fire safety in recent decades, but a large number of fires still start – and spread – every year in Sweden. In 2017, there were over 10 000 rescue operations to extinguish fires in buildings in Sweden. 2,731 of these fires had spread beyond the starting area and were still ongoing when the emergency services arrived on the scene. In the same year, 110* people lost their lives in these fires. Reducing the number of fires requires a comprehensive and systematic approach to fire protection on many levels, of which structural protection and properly installed fire seals are among the most fundamental. Deficiencies in fire sealing pose major risks to both people and property.

In addition to the risk of injury, fires have major economic and environmental consequences. According to the Swedish Fire Protection Association, the cost of school fires alone is estimated at almost SEK 1 billion annually.

Not only is the cost of rescue, clean-up and repair or reconstruction of the property high. Businesses and individuals lose huge amounts of property and organizations also lose production revenue. In addition, there is the price paid by the environment in terms of the pollutants released by the fires, the large amount of water needed to extinguish the fires and the material resources needed to replace what has been lost.

Prioritizing fireproofing and ensuring that it is carried out correctly by trained personnel is obviously not the only key to preventing fires and reducing deaths and injuries from building fires. But it is a crucial cornerstone of prevention, which saves lives.

* Statistics from the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB). MSB does not currently have access to data from the National Board of Forensic Medicine, and the statistics from 2016 onwards must therefore be regarded as preliminary.