FIRE INCIDENT STATISTICS IN THE TAMALE METROPOLITAN AREA IN THE NORTHERN REGION OF GHANA: A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY

Abstract

The effect of a fire disaster is greater in developing countries due to inadequate 'firefighting preventive and support systems. There is therefore the need to analyze fire incident data to enable better fire safety and prevention strategies. The study was a retrospective cross-sectional study from January to June 2021. In all, 130 fire incident reports from 2017 to 2020 were collected. The data, consisting of 32 variables were analyzed using binary logistic regression. It was observed that fire incidents due to electrical causes (53.9%), occurring in residential buildings (55.4%), and in the dry season (57.7%) were the most common. Fires due to nonelectrical causes were less likely to spread compared to fires due to electrical causes [AOR: 0.465(95%CI:0.221-0.977)]. Also, the likelihood of a fire spreading in the wet season was reduced, compared to the dry season [AOR: 0.341(95%CI:0.118-0.988)]. Moreover, apartment house’s fires were less likely to spread as compared to compound house's' fires [AOR: 0.341(95%CI:0.118-0.988)]. The source of energy, the design of a building and the climatic conditions are associated with fire incidents in the study area. These findings will serve as guidelines for fire safety and prevention strategies in the Tamale metropolitan area.