tatistical Analysis of Electrical Fire Outbreaks in Buildings: Case Study of Lagos State, Nigeria

Abstract: Electrical fires are not always noted despite their prevalence. When fire is severe, it can be difficult to discern whether an electrical appliance started the fire or if a poorly wired plug was the case. Electrical fires are pervasive throughout Lagos state, causing injury, claiming lives, and resulting in large losses of property. Data for this paper covering 2012 to2014 were obtained from various fire services in the country namely:  This paper adopted statistical approach using SPSS tool to determine the possible factors causing electrical fires in buildings thereby providing remedial measures afterwards. Some of the areas covered are: amount lost, number of fire injuries, number of fire deaths, fire origin, items first ignited, month of occurrence, equipment involved in ignition and area covered by fire. It was discovered from analysis that the amount lost per fire for residential building electrical fires in Lagos state for the period considered is more than double that for nonelectrical residential building fires. The functional and structural areas of the building were found to be the most likely to experience electrical fires. Structural components of a building are by far the largest cat­egory of items first ignited in residential building electrical fires. Electrical wiring with its various components was by far the major cause of residential building electrical fires. Remedial measures were provided.