State Fire Death Rate Ranks Among Worst For 25 Years

West Virginia’s fire death rate has remained among the highest in the nation for the last 25 years. 

Legislators learned Sunday during a Government Organization Committee meeting of those persistent rankings but that the West Virginia Fire Commission had not developed a statutorily required plan for fire control and prevention in the state. 

This was a finding from a Performance Evaluation and Research Division agency review presented by analyst Andrew Holt. 

“From 2000 until last year, the state ranked in the top 10 nationally in 21 of 24 years,” Holt said. “In nearly half of those years, West Virginia ranked in the top four states for fire death rates, and in four years it ranked number one.”

State Fire Marshall Ken Tyree Jr. testified that he did not realize state code required his agency to publish a single fire safety document, but since learning of it during the review, his department has been working to pull those resources together. 

“I have taken this report seriously from the start of this administration, and including the meetings with PERD, this administration took immediate action to dig deep to address not only the things that have come from this the findings of this report, but other improvements that can be made to improve the State Fire Commission and the State Fire Marshal’s Office effort to serve the citizens of state better,” he said. 

Tyree said there were several factors that contributed to those high fire death rates like socio and economic factors including older houses, poverty. Aging population, people living alone, unintended careless actions, high smoking rates, improper use of heating devices and lack of operating smoke alarms. 

“The topography of the state, more rural versus suburban or urban housing density, which causes larger response times for most of the state, which many of you are aware that most of the state, 96% to be exact, of the state is called covered by the volunteer fire service, versus those communities served by full time paid fire service,” he said. 

Tyree noted several actions the office of the State Fire Marshal plans immediate action on; 

Increase our offices engagement in local communities by providing additional resources and education to fire departments, schools, daycares and all types of community centers to improve engagement, partnerships and involvement with these entities to participate or help create community events to encourage increased opportunities for broader engagement,

Equip our staff and other stakeholders with tools and educational materials to be used within each fire department, their community and neighboring communities to increase safety awareness. 

Update our 52 week fire prevention guide for use by all stakeholders. 

Reevaluating and enhancing fire safety and fire prevention outreach efforts by expanding our involvement in local community smoke alarm installation programs. 

Tyree answered a question from Del. Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, that he was unaware that state code required his office to prepare a single fire prevention control plan.

“We recognize there has not been a single source document with the identified 16 elements,” he said. “However, following our review of the draft report this administration, the State Fire commission and State Fire Marshal’s office have taken immediate action and have a draft document being actively worked on and reviewed to ensure compliance with West Virginia code. The draft plan has been presented and discussed during our recent December fire commission meeting, all commissioners were provided with a draft document and encouraged to provide comments and feedback based upon each Commissioner’s industry expertise. On behalf of the State Fire Commission, we appreciate the feedback provided by the Legislative Audit and the opportunity to enhance our service and refocus our commitment to the citizens of this state.”