Deprivation and Accidental Dwelling Fires in the Greater Manchester Area Between 2013–2014 and 2023–2024

ABSTRACT In this article, the relationship between the level of deprivation, measured by the Indices of Multiple Deprivation decile (IMD decile) determined by the UK Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and the number of different types of accidental dwelling fires (ADFs) in populations across the different IMD deciles is examined. Data concerning the different types of ADFs categorised by the source of ignition of the fire from Greater Manchester between 2013–2014 and 2023–2024 were used for the analysis. Overall, there was a strong and statistically significant level of correlation (0.97, p < 0.001) between the level of deprivation and the overall number of ADFs per 10 000 population in the 2019 IMD deciles and across all the different types of ADFs (e.g., cooking, smoking‐related and heating fires). In particular, the ratio of accidental dwelling smoking‐related fires per 100 000 population in IMD 1 deciles (most deprived) to IMD 10 deciles (least deprived) in Greater Manchester over the period studied was 8.4–1.