A homeless alcoholic, found dead in a fire, was extremely drunk. Fatal residential fires account for 10% of all accidental deaths in developed countries, with one-fourth of the deaths involving elderly people. Significantly more fires killing elderly people were caused by faulty or misused electrical items in the house, particularly electric blankets and heating devices. The fire-related fatality rate is highest among older persons. Alcohol is not a factor in fatal fires involving older adults. This differs from fatal fires involving the young and middle-aged adults. Ethanol or substance use may increase the risk of fire-related injury or death. From the records of all fatalities from fire reported to the US state medical examiner’s office, blood assay results for ethanol were positive in 29.5% of fatalities of fire, and blood or urine assay results for substances of abuse were positive in 14.6% of fatalities.
Fig.1 A homeless alcoholic found dead in a fire.
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