title: Incidence trends in house fire fatalities in eastern Scotland.
abstract: Fatal house fires occur more frequently in Scotland than elsewhere in Great Britain.(1,2) Over the last few years several educational campaigns were initiated to instruct the public in the risk factors associated with such fire fatalities and to promote the installation of functional domestic smoke detectors. An epidemiological survey of house fire deaths in the Lothian and Borders region of Scotland over the first half of the present decade, was carried out to evaluate any changing incidence trends by comparison with a survey of the fatalities from the first half of the previous decade. The impact of such campaigns in reducing house fires appears to be limited.
authors.affiliation: Forensic Medicine Unit, Department of pathology, University Medical School, Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, UK.
authors.forename: L B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Jordan
authors.forename: T J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Squires
authors.lastname: A  Busuttil