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Bonfire Safety

Volume 447: debated on Friday 16 June 2006

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate he has made of the number of people who have suffered major burns in the run-up to the bonfire season in Northern Ireland in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. (77343)

The following table details the number of admissions to hospital with a primary or secondary diagnosis of burns for each month during 2004-05 (the latest year for which data is available). For the purpose of this answer, any burn that required hospital admission has been deemed a major burn.

It should be noted that any individual could have been admitted to hospital more than once over the course of a year and would therefore be counted more than once in the figures.

Month of admission

Admissions1 due to burns

April 2004

24

May 2004

37

June 2004

20

July 2004

27

August 2004

26

September 2004

25

October 2004

27

November 2004

31

December 2004

28

January 2005

31

February 2005

29

March 2005

27

Total

332

1 Deaths and Discharges are used as an approximation to admissions.

Source:

Hospital Inpatients System DHSS&PS.

The NI Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) is a member of an inter-agency Working Group on Bonfires. This group, which includes representatives from a wide range of statutory bodies, aims to educate people on the dangers of bonfires and to give advice on how to act safely around them. The NIFRS also works closely with Community Safety Partnerships on issues such as this.