Fire and rescue incident statistics: April to September 2022

The analysis below relates to the periods 1 April to 30 September 2022 compared to the same period the previous year, the latter of which was subject to some restrictions due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Main points

Fires

• The Welsh Fire and Rescue Services attended 7,409 fires in this period, an increase of 24%.
• There were 2,142 primary fires in Wales, an increase of 4%.
• There were 5,196 secondary fires in Wales, an increase of 35%. Since a large proportion of secondary fires occur outside, they are likely to be influenced by weather conditions.
• July and August in 2022 saw large increases in the numbers of secondary fires compared with these months in 2021. Numbers in July rose by 86% to 992 whilst numbers more than trebled in August to 1,230. This was during a period when some exceptionally high temperatures were recorded (Met Office).
• There were 2,339 grassland, woodland and crop fires in this period, an increase of 48%.

Casualties

• There were 5 fire deaths in Wales, 7 fewer than reported in the same period in the previous year.
• There were 74 injuries in this period, 5 more than in the previous year.
• A further 138 received first aid, were sent to a hospital for precautionary tests or were advised to seek medical advice. This is 37 fewer than the number in the same period in the previous year.

False alarms

• There were 8,293 fire false alarms in Wales, 7% more than reported in the same period the previous year.
• There were 255 malicious fire false alarms, 25% more than in the same period in the previous year.