Statistics and Investigations of Fire Incidents in “SILVER PEER” Collective Housings for Senior Citizens in Tokyo Metropolitan District - Disaster Prevention Planning for Elderly Residents in Apartment Buildings

In the year of 2000, 36 cases of fire were turned up through the investigation on the fire safety in “SILVEER PEER”, the collective housings for elderly people managed by Tokyo Metropolitan Government. In the latest study, we pursued the further investigation and found out that only 32 of those cases were the real fires. We interviewed the supervisors of “SILVER PEER” and learned the followings : (1) Under the consideration of the number reported to the firehouse, fire occurrence ratio at “SILVER PEER” is comparable to that in common apartment houses. (2) Most of the fires happened in the kitchen while the residents were cooking. The fires occurred because the pans were left unattended on the stove and their clothes were easier to catch on fire. (3) Most of the fires broke out around noon or towards evening while the residents were preparing for meals. (4) Because of the failure in hearing, the elderly are more likely not to notice the fire alarm when a fire occurred. In order to create the safe living environment for the elderly, it is important to take measures as followings to prevent fire breaking out and to extinguish them quickly. Firstly, it is very important to add the safety systems to cooking equipments and recommend the residents wearing incombustible clothes during cooking. Secondly, support system between the residents and the resident's association is needed to take the effective preemptive behavior. Regular fire drills will help residents construct the network system and learn the appropriate action on fire.