Halloween is more than just candy and tricks, It’s the start of fire season.

10/2/2019 (Permalink)

Halloween fires are no trick.

For many, the spooky holiday of Halloween is their favorite time of year.  It’s the beginning of fall weather and pumpkin spice scents waft through the air of many homes and businesses.  It is also the start of fire season, but did you know that the Halloween holiday itself has increased fire incidences?

A data snapshot done by the U.S. Fire Administration between the years of 2014 through 2016 plainly shows the increase of these fires.  The average number of fatalities and injuries were slightly higher than the same loss measures for all other fires as well as the average dollar loss per Halloween fires were also slightly higher than non-Halloween fires.

Loss measure           Halloween fires       Non-Halloween fires

Fatalities/1,000 fires                2.7                           2.3

Injuries/1,000 fires  11.4                         9.9

Dollar loss/fire         $10,580                   $9,870

Source: National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) 5.0.

Statistics also show that most Halloween fires occur late afternoon into early evening.  This can mean that while you are out with the rest of the Trick or Treaters and you do have a fire, you may not be the first to know.  This doesn’t mean that you still can’t be prepared.  Make sure that you have the number for SERVPRO of Alachua County West programmed in your phone along with your local fire department because we are “faster to any size disaster.”