larry stokes underwriting manager zurich municipal chairman of schools working party - arson...

LARRY STOKES

Underwriting Manager

ZURICH MUNICIPAL

CHAIRMAN OF SCHOOLS WORKING PARTY- Arson Prevention Bureau

IFEROYAL BERKSHIRE GROUP

11 November 2003

National Cost

Issues

Arsonist Profile

School Fires

The incidence of arson in industrial, agricultural, commercial and public premises

1998 1999 2000 2001

Totalnumber offires

41,800 43,700 41,800 43,600

Number ofmaliciousfires

17,100 17,900 18,000 19,700

% ofmaliciousfires

42 41 43 45

Housing £ 351m Commercial £ 758m

£1,108m Business Interruption £ 269m

£1,477m

Cost of Fires

ABI - 2002

50% of Commercial

£500m

Arson - 2002

INVOLVING ……...

Death, and injury to occupants and Fire Fighters

Business Interruption

Closure of the Company

Loss of jobs

Loss of facilities or amenities for the community

Pollution

Loss of industrial heritage

ARSON FIRE - WHO ?

MALE

….. but not always

AGED 10 - 16

WORKFORCE

VISITORS

ARSON FIRE - WHEN

ALL FIRES - 49% AT NIGHT

ARSON - 68% AT NIGHT

LARGE ARSON - 84% AT NIGHT

The Problem

The Issues

The Solutions

SCHOOL FIRES

THE PROBLEM

THE PROBLEM

THE PROBLEM

COSTS OF LOSS/ DAMAGE IN SCHOOLS

National Costs - Fire Losses

1993 - 2002

0

20,000,000

40,000,000

60,000,000

80,000,000

100,000,000

120,000,000

1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

Government set to spend £5bn on renewing school infrastructure over next 5 years

So What ?

90,000 schoolchildren have education disrupted

80,000 families affected

320,000 people involved

PLUS

Resources diverted

Education disrupted

A Different Perspective …..

FIRE PROTECTION ASSOCIATION FIRES > £250,00012 MONTHS MAY 2001 - APRIL 2002

Where the Fire £250,000-Plus Fires Started

No. of Fires

Estimated Loss £

Education Establishments 22 32,784,000Shops 9 5,231,000Food and drink industry 3 3,475,000Clubs, pubs and restaurants 11 4,338,000Multiple occupancy 1 1,030,000Warehouses, wholesalers 10 24,625,000

Total all occupancies 123,904,807

Schools - 26%

School Fires by Means of Discovery

3 2 3

8

1114

113

3250

173

50

Occupant

Neighbour

Passer By

Caretaker

Police

Security Patrol

Fire / Intruder Alarm

Contractor

Automatic Fire Detection

Unknown

Others

School Fires By Time of Day

22

181

98

47

113

0 50 100 150 200

Unknown

Midnight - 6am

6:01am - 3:59pm

4pm - 10:59pm

11pm - Midnight

Tim

e B

and

No. of Fires

Causes Of Fires In Schools

36

7

20

14

43

91

197

44

31

2

1

1

ArsonArson Under 14'sArson - OtherArson - SuspectFire - ChemicalsMalicious FireFire - ElectricalFire - SmokingFire - HeatingFire - AccidentalFire - ChildrenFire ContractorFire - Unknown

SCHOOL FIRES 01.01.92 - 01.03.2003

Loss Experience

95%

82%

60%

46%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

VANDALISM

THEFTS

MINOR FIRES

MAJOR FIRES

In

cid

en

t T

yp

e

No. of Schools

THE ISSUES

Target Hardening

Intervention

THE SOLUTIONS

Target Hardening

THE SOLUTIONS

Use construction materials of limited combustibility

Secure bin stores

Retro-fit void barriers on older schools

Effective perimeter security

Automatic Fire alarms in all schools

Fire Sprinklers in new/refurbished schools

YOUR SCHOOL?

Site closed for weeks

Community disrupted

Children taught in portakabins for 3 years

Case Study 2

St Mary’s Church of England Primary School

Lunchtime fire April 2002

Pupil enters stockroom - starts fire

Thought to be false alarm, but …..

Water spotted from under the door

Water cleaned up, school operates normally for rest of day

WHAT CAN BE DONE ?

Design of new schools to incorporate lessons learnt

Upgrade refurbished schools

Target ‘the critical few’ of each LEA

AND

Use curriculum based resource to deflect potential fire

setters

SCHOOL FIRES

Who sets them?

More than 90% set by those who attend, or who have attended, the

school

Why do they set them?

To resolve angry feelings about the school

Often specifically directed to one or more teachers’ areas

Can we prevent school fires? Yes

Awareness of the fire setter enables preventative intervention

How do we identify them?

There are fire setters in every school

Fire safety (arson) education

Current space on the curriculum limited to fire safety

Nothing specific on arson

Main package is "learn not to burn"

Opportunity missed?

ARSON IN SCHOOLS

To raise awareness of problem and consequences

To educate pupils, teachers, parents and neighbours and

communities.

To be integrated within the school curriculum

To promote “good citizenship” both within

and outside the school environment - All with the overriding aim of reducing arson and increasing risk

assessment skills. (Changing Behaviour)

OBJECTIVES OF PROGRAMME

THE PROGRAMME

Key partner involvement Schools

Theatre in Education

Workshops

Resource Pack

Community Interaction

Benchmarking / monitoring / evaluation

Target the increased resource to improve the vulnerability of schools to large disruptive fires

Energise/facilitate education programmes aimed at explaining the consequences of malicious fire raising

All agencies to work together to reduce the number and cost of fires in schools

THE OPPORTUNITY