COLUMBUS – Ohio’s mild winter contributed to a significant decline in the number of fire deaths reported across the state.
Fire deaths in Ohio decreased 27 percent during the six-month heating season, which lasts from October through March, compared to the same period a year earlier, according to State Fire Marshal Larry Flowers.
The winter heating months typically account for the largest percentage of fatal fires, Flowers said.
Flowers’s office launched the “Safe & Sound” campaign in October, aimed at reducing fire deaths, particularly those caused by alternative heat sources such as space heaters and he thinks that, combined with the mild winter, contributed to the decline
While the heating season has ended, Flowers says his office will continue to emphasize fire safety and prevention.