Eighteen people have died as a result of fires in the past nine and a half months - eight more than the number of people killed by fire during 2010.
Director of Fire Services Superintendent Jeffrey Deleveaux yesterday confirmed that seven men, four women, three boys and four girls died by fire so far this year, as compared to the 10 fire deaths recorded last year. Deleveaux said of the deaths this year, 13 occurred in New Providence, four in Grand Bahama and one in Eleuthera.
He added that when those deaths are compared to the number of fires the unit has responded to, it is fortunate that more lives were not lost.
According to fire statistics, 1,519 fires were reported between January and mid-September.  That's just 239 less calls than were recorded in 2010.  Deleveaux said fire calls have increased in nearly every category.
However, the most significant increases were recorded in vehicle, bush and rubbish fires.  But, it was building fires that have caused the most damage.
Of the fires recorded, there were several major fires, resulting in more than $20 million in damage.  They include the Betty K fire on February 14 with nearly $10 million in damage, the fire at a Haitian village on Allen Drive, off Fire Trail Road on March 3, with about $150,000 in damage; the fire in Ferguson Sub-division on March 15 with about $100,000 in damage, and the Automotive Industrial Distributors (AID) fire in June with an estimated $10 million in damage, fire officials said.
During the Betty K Agency Ltd. fire half a dozen buildings were reduced to charred shells and rubble, while several more sustained severe damage.  The fire, which started at Betty K in downtown Bay Street, raged for more than six hours and affected an entire block of buildings.
Those destroyed buildings have since been demolished.
In the Ferguson Sub-division fire, at least 45 people were displaced by the blaze, which completely consumed three houses and damaged another three.
The fire at the Fire Trail Road shantytown ripped through dozens of shacks, leaving hundreds of squatters homeless.  It razed rows of shacks that were grouped together on the property.
AID on Wulff Road was destroyed by a fire which reportedly started in the warehouse section of the building and quickly spread to the remainder of the building.
Meantime, police say they have determined that at least 129 of the fires recorded so far this year have been the result of arson.

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