Iowa Department of Public Safety
Larry L. Noble, Commissioner
215 East 7th Street
Des Moines, Iowa 50319

Raymond A. Reynolds, Director

FIRE MARSHAL REPORTS 146 PEOPLE GREET 2011 AFTER THEIR LIVES WERE SAVED BY A SMOKE ALARM IN 2010

Des Moines, IOWA --- While 32 lives have been lost to fire in Iowa for the year ending 2010, another 146 lives were saved when working smoke alarms alerted each to a fire taking over their home. 

In an effort to get Iowans to think about safety, today the State Fire Marshal breaks down other interesting statistics of 2010:

• 95% - The percentage of smoke alarm saves that occurred after 11 p.m. and before 6 a.m. 
• 5 - Precious Iowa children who lost their lives in a fire in 2010 (ages 3-17).
• 5 - Number of persons who died outside of a residence (vehicles, machinery, or burning brush).
• 27 - Fire deaths that occurred at a residence (mostly single family homes).
• 21 - The number of fire deaths that occurred in the fall and winter months of January, February, March, October, November, and December.
• October - The deadliest month in 2010, with 10 fire deaths (nearly 1/3 of the total). 
• 345 - The number of people admitted to the University of Iowa Burn Unit with serious burns in 2010.
• 24% - Percentage of the 334 hospital admittances at the U of I Burn Unit that were children. 
• $7.34 Billion - Dollars spent for medical care of burn survivors in America last year.

The Iowa fire service and University of Iowa Burn Unit are working together to stop these preventable deaths. 

State Fire Marshal Ray Reynolds said, “Our goal with counting lives saved was to focus on something positive.  The words ‘fire’ and ‘tragedy’ are used together far too often.” 

Smoke alarms saved 146 lives in Iowa.  Don’t stay home without one!

To enroll in the DPS E-mail Notification system simply log on to https://dpsemailnotify.iowa.gov and follow the instructions to enroll as a new user.