Faribault Fire Chief Discusses Senior Fire Safety on KDHL

Faribault Fire Chief Dustin Dienst is on the KDHL AM Minnesota program at 9:30 this morning. Dienst chose senior fire safety as our topic of conversation.  He notes there are some issues that tend to be seen in the senior community that are different from other segments of the population.

It's a fact older adults have an increased risk of dying in a fire.  In 2015 according to the U.S. Fire Administration older adults (those 65 years of age and older) represented 15 percent of the U.S. population but suffered 40 percent of all fire deaths.  Elders had a 207 times greater risk of dying in a fire than the total population.

Ages 85 and older were 3.8 times more likely to die in a fire than the total population.

Smoking is the leading cause of home fire deaths for adults 65 and over.  Cooking fires are the number one cause of home fires in this country.  A smoke alarm does you no good if you can't hear.  There are alarms you can purchase that will shake the bed and flash lights in the room.

Part 1

Part 2