FOI Request 2302

Subject: House Fires

Status: Complete

Date received: February 2026


Question Asked:

Please provide the following information for the period 2023, 2024, and 2025 (or the most recent data held within this period):

The number of dwelling (house) fires attended by the service

For each period, please provide:

The total number of dwelling fires attended in each calendar year.

A breakdown of the primary causes of these dwelling fires, ideally using the same categorisation you use internally (e.g., cooking-related, electrical faults)

Please use the service’s standard incident classification categories (for example: primary fires, secondary fires, special service incidents, and false alarms).


Our Response:

Please find below the data requested. The information has been taken from the Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service Incident Recording System and includes all incidents which have been recorded as a Primary Fire with a Property Category of Dwelling.

Primary Fires - Dwellings:

Main Cause

2023

2024

2025

Combustible articles too close to heat source (or fire)

56

58

60

Fault in equipment or appliance

49

47

54

Cooking - other cooking

39

43

51

Faulty fuel supply - electricity

38

34

36

Heat source and combustibles brought together deliberately

28

25

25

Careless handling - due to careless disposal

28

19

25

Negligent use of equipment or appliance (heat source)

26

19

22

Cooking - chip pan / deep fat fryer

19

16

9

Accumulation of flammable material

5

10

13

Faulty leads to equipment or appliance

5

12

5

Overheating, unknown cause

6

7

6

Careless handling - due to knocking over

7

6

4

Other intentional burning, going out of control

9

0

6

Careless handling - due to sleep or unconsciousness

7

3

2

Natural occurrence

3

5

2

Other

3

4

1

Playing with fire (or heat source)

3

2

3

Chimney fire

1

0

4

Faulty fuel supply - gas

0

3

0

Bomb / incendiary device

1

1

0

Suicide / attempted: setting fire to self

0

1

0

Bonfire going out of control

0

1

0

Total

333

316

328


Outcome: Information Provided

FOI responded to within timescales: YES

Further action: NO

Back to FOI requests


Last updated: Friday, 27 February 2026


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