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High number of house fire deaths in Belgium
Last year in Belgium, more people died in house fires than in neighbouring countries, report Het Nieuwsblad and De Standaard on Monday. House fires were linked to 69 deaths in Belgium in 2014, according to a count of fatal fires in Belgium, the first of its kind in nine years. The number is higher than that of neighbouring countries, and considerably higher than the Netherlands.
The Belgian government stopped keeping statistics on house fires in 2005, leaving a void for Belgium every year in numerous international surveys. Tim Renders, a Leuven fireman and fire safety consultant, kept track of the incidents himself for the past year. "Because you can’t launch a campaign for fire safety if you don’t know where they occur, how they arise, and who the victims are."
Comments
Really cannot believe there are no statistics kept by the fire department or police for house fires. How does the country recommend smoke detectors (or whatever) to is citizens when the whole matter is not
followed professionally? This is abhorent to the common citizen.
Agree with Salsadanser -- totally irresponsible behaviour on behalf of the Belgian authorities! The excuse cannot be that they don't have enough bureaucrats to keep the records!!! We have more bureacrats per head as well as more housefire deaths than our neighbours!
Both need fixing!
House fires, road safety, C0 poisoning....... I long ago noticed just how many houses burnt to the ground. I think at least part of the reason is that every Belgian thinks he can do the gas and electricity himself, a point of personal pride even. I once came across a house in the Ardennes that was quietly crackling away, just left to burn out!
Oh, I forgot Gas explosions! Large gaps in rows of houses!