Falls, Fires, and Older Adults

Falls and fires kill and injure more older adults than many people realize. Not only are seniors twice as likely as the general population to experience a fatal fire, they suffer an estimated 36 million falls each year in the U.S., resulting in 8 million injuries.

On today’s podcast, we talk to Dori Krahn, a community relations coordinator with the Saskatoon Fire Department, and an expert on senior fall and fire prevention education (2:50). She tells us why senior falls have increased across North America, why fires are so dangerous for this population, and talks about an updated NFPA program aimed at teaching older adults how to be safer in their homes.

Then, on a new Code Corner, NFPA engineer Val Ziavras answers a question about how to make sense of occupancy classifications (34:34).

LINKS

Learn more about the new NFPA program, Steps to Safety

Read a 2022 NFPA Journal feature exploring the growing problem of falls and fires among older adults