https://focustaiwan.tw/society/202004260012
3,878 fires reported in Taipei from 2017-2019
04/26/2020
Taipei, April 26 (CNA) A total of 3,878 fires were reported in Taipei over the past three years, resulting in 44 deaths and 62 injuries.
Fifteen of the fatalities, or 34.1 percent of the total, were caused by electrical fires, according to statistics from the city's fire department.
The statistics show that 1,438 fires took place in 2017, 1,236 in 2018 and 1,204 in 2019.
Sixty-six percent of the fires were caused by home cooking equipment at 944, 835 and 781 cases, respectively, during the three-year period, Lin Ju-ying (林如瑩), a department official said.
The second leading cause of the fires were related to electrical problems, accounting for 294, 228 and 261 cases, respectively, or 20.1 percent of the total.
Lit cigarette butts was the third major cause, resulting in 83, 78 and 70 cases, respectively, or 5.9 percent of the total, according to Lin.
Suicide by fire caused nine deaths, while fires started by discarded lit cigarette butts caused six deaths, Lin said.
Gas-powered home cooking equipment fires, meanwhile, caused just one death.
Meanwhile, electrical fires caused 29 injuries, or 46.8 percent of the total, while arson caused eight injuries, or 12.9 percent of the total, cigarette butts caused five injuries, and four were injured by gas leaks, according to Lin.
(By Huang Li-yun and Evelyn Kao)