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Fire incidents from January to October This year, from January to October, a total of 250,000 fire incidents were reported across the country, resulting in 1,261 deaths and 895 injuries. The direct property damage amounted to 3.01 billion yuan. Compared with the same period last year, the number of incidents decreased by 17.1%, the number of deaths by 17.7%, the number of injuries by 12.1%, and the amount of damage by 18.7%. Among them, 54 major fires occurred, 4 fewer than in the same period last year, a decrease of 6.9%. The main characteristics are as follows: in terms of regional distribution, fires have decreased significantly in the east and the northeast, but the east accounts for the largest proportion. The number of fires in the eastern, central, western, and eastern regions all decreased compared to the same period last year; specifically, the number of fires in the eastern region dropped by 28.4%, in the northeast region by 28.1%, in the central region by 5.6%, and in the western region by 1.6%. Of the total number of fires nationwide, the east accounts for 34.2%, the highest proportion ； Next is the West, accounting for 29.2% ； Next is the central region, accounting for 23.2% ； The smallest proportion is in the Northeast region, accounting for 13.4%. In terms of location distribution, residential building fires occur relatively frequently and result in the highest number of casualties. There were 101,000 fires in various types of residential buildings, 25,000 fires in vehicles, 18,000 fires in crowded places, 16,000 fires in construction sites, factories, warehouses, and places prone to fires and explosions, 12,000 fires in markets for agricultural and sideline products, 17,000 fires related to garbage and waste, and over 60,000 fires in other locations. Among them, residential fires accounted for 40.5% of the total, resulting in 1,012 deaths, which represented 80.3% of the total fatalities, and 625 injuries, accounting for 69.8% of the total number of injured people. In terms of urban and rural distribution, fires in cities and county towns account for a slightly higher proportion, while the fatality rate from fires in rural areas is higher. There were 78,000 fires in cities, accounting for 31.1% of the total ； 78,000 fires broke out in townships and market towns, accounting for 31.1% of the total ； 77,000 fires occurred in rural areas, accounting for 30.8% of the total ； There were 18,000 fires in other regions, accounting for 7%. In cities, 1 death occurs on average for every 205 fires; in county towns and market towns, 1 death occurs on average for every 199 fires, while in rural areas 1 death occurs on average for every 164 fires. In terms of time distribution, fires occur more frequently during the day, especially in the afternoon, while there are fewer fires at night but more casualties. Taking 2-hour intervals, there were 6 such intervals from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and in each interval the number of fires exceeded 25,000; these accounted for 57.1% of the total number of fires throughout the day. The highest number of fires occurred between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., with over 30,000 fires, representing 12.2% of the total ； During the four periods from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., the number of fires in each period was less than 20,000, accounting for only 20.9% of the total number of fires throughout the day. Yet, these periods saw 620 deaths and 375 injuries due to fires, representing 49.2% and 41.9% of the total deaths and injuries respectively. In terms of the causes of fires, electrical issues are the primary cause, while carelessness when using fire, smoking, playing with fire, and carelessness in production activities also account for a significant proportion. There were 76,000 fires caused by electrical issues, resulting in 389 deaths and 234 injuries, as well as direct property losses of 1.14 billion yuan; these accounted for 30.3%, 30.8%, 26.1%, and 38.1% of the total respectively. Secondly, there were 44,000 fires caused by careless use of fire, accounting for 17.6% of the total ； There were 12,000 fires caused by smoking, accounting for 4.9% of the total ； There were 8,000 fires caused by playing with fire, accounting for 3.2% of the total ； There were 7,000 fires caused by careless production operations, accounting for 2.8% of the total. The rest are fires caused by lightning strikes, static electricity, spontaneous combustion, unknown causes, and those under investigation. The public security fire brigades have a heavy burden of social rescue and assistance tasks. From January to October, the public security fire departments responded to 1.013 million calls, deploying 10.33 million personnel and 1.747 million vehicles. Among them, 270,000 various fires were extinguished, accounting for 26.8% of the total ； 527,000 rescue operations were carried out, accounting for 51.5% of the total (286,000 emergency rescue operations and 236,000 social assistance operations). A total of 168,000 people were rescued, 632,000 people were evacuated, and property worth over 30.9 billion yuan was saved. In the firefighting and rescue operations over the first 10 months, 5 firefighters lost their lives and 25 were injured. In terms of fire fighting, major disaster incidents such as the \"1.25\" commercial building fire in Yingkou, Liaoning; the \"3.31\" Jinyuan Market fire in Changchun, Jilin; the \"4.12\" Wanlong Huiyang Lighting City fire in Beijing; the \"4.16\" Yuguang Chemical Industry fire in Fangchenggang, Guangxi; and the \"4.22\" Deqiao Chemical Storage fire in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, have been successfully handled. In particular, during the firefighting operation at the Deqiao Chemical Storage facility in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, on April 22, the public security fire brigade mobilized over 1,300 officers and soldiers from the fire departments of Jiangsu and Shanghai, as well as those from Nanjing Non-Commissioned Officer School, along with 164 fire trucks to handle the situation. After 18 hours of intense efforts by these firefighters, the fire was extinguished, thereby protecting 139 hazardous chemical storage tanks and an area of dozens of square kilometers around them. In terms of disaster relief, from March to September this year, 13 provinces in central and southern China experienced heavy rainfall and severe flooding, posing a serious threat to the lives and property of the local population. The public security fire brigade responded immediately to the alert and remained at the forefront of flood control, disaster relief efforts, rescuing and evacuating a large number of people. According to statistics, during the flood season, the public security fire departments participated in 14,135 flood control and rescue operations, deploying 25,600 vehicles, 122,400 personnel, rescuing 44,800 people in distress, and evacuating 179,000 people. Progress in handling criminal cases: Since 2016, the fire protection agencies under the public security departments across the country have initiated legal investigations into 85 fires that met the criteria for being classified as fire incidents or accidents resulting from negligence in fire safety, which is 18 more cases than the total number of cases investigated last year. Among them, 76 cases were filed for the crime of arson, and 9 cases were filed for the crime of fire safety negligence; 41 persons responsible for the fires or managers of the organizations where the fires occurred were held criminally liable. Significant progress has been made in handling criminal fire cases. Since 2013, public security and fire departments across the country have, in accordance with the \"Provisions of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security on the Standards for Filing Cases and Prosecuting Criminal Cases under the Jurisdiction of Public Security Organs,\" initiated investigations into 540 fires that met the criteria for prosecution under the jurisdiction of fire safety authorities. Of these, 510 were cases of arson, and 30 were cases of fire-related liability accidents. There have been 146 cases that resulted in judgments; of these, 128 were fire accidents, with 137 people held accountable for the crime of arson. In 18 cases it was fire accidents, and 25 people were held accountable for the crime of negligence in fire safety.