Thank you for your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
We can confirm that Essex County Fire & Rescue Service does hold the information you have requested.
Please see below the answer to your request.
Questions and final response:
Question 1 – The number of calls to fires caused by electric blankets and the number of calls to fires caused by plug-in electric heaters. I would like the data from January 2017 until as recently as records allow. I would like the data to be broken down as follows: In both cases would like to know, in total, how many calls there were in each year: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021.For 2022 and 2023, I would like a month-by-month breakdown of the number of calls. In both cases, I would also like to know, in each year, the ages of the callers, if this information is held. If it is not, please omit. Furthermore, I would like for you to provide a case summary of the last five callouts: five for blankets and five for heaters?
Number Of Incidents Incident Year Item Fire Caused By
2 2017 Electric Blanket
2 2019 Electric Heater
1 2022 Electric Heater
We have searched our Incident Recording system for the data requested and have found the above incidents that specifically mention Electric Blanket and Electric Heater.
I have attached the redacted fire reports for the incidents listed above, this is an extract from the incident log with key information about the incident, what was reported in the original 999 call, what was found on arrival, what equipment was used to extinguish, the source of ignition, damage caused, whether the cause was accidental or deliberate and also whether an investigation was required to ascertain the cause.
There is limited information about the persons involved in the incidents, as we are not obliged to ask for any personal details of the people involved in incidents.
We do gather information at the scene for instance, if an elderly person was involved, this may be reflected in the Fire Report if known, I think you can see the approximate age ranges from the details in the majority of the attached fire reports.
I do hope you find these useful in gathering a more in-depth picture of the incidents you have requested.
Personal data has been removed from the attached documents under section 40 of the Freedom Of Information Act – Personal Information Freedom of Information Act 2000 (legislation.gov.uk) ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Incident and other data is published on our transparency site. For further information please follow this link. Incident Data (essex-fire.gov.uk)