Fire Outcomes

The principal responsibility of the Commission is to reduce the incidence of fire and its consequences for people, property, communities and the environment. This annual report sets out how we performed across a wide range of strategies and programmes designed to meet that responsibility. During the course of each year the Commission tracks four key indicators to monitor performance. One indicator of the outcomes of fires for people is residential fire fatalities. I am pleased to report our world-class achievements of recent years were maintained in 2006/2007 with just 15 residential fire fatalities recorded. This represents a fire fatality rate of 0.36 deaths per 100,000 population and cements New Zealand’s performance close to the best in the world on this measure.

I set out the key indicators of fire outcomes for communities, property and the environment below.

As long-run climate and short-run seasonal factors have a substantial bearing on the incidence and severity of unwanted fires it is imprudent to accord too much weight to a single year’s performance. This is particularly so for indicators such as hectares lost to wildfire. It is important, therefore, to consider the longer-term trends rather than just year-on-year performances. In this respect the 10-year comparative table below shows the Commission continues to make substantial progress across a broad range of fire outcome measures.