Scotland still has the highest rate of fire deaths

However, despite fatalities going from 96 in 2001 to 77 in 2002, the rate was still higher than in rest of the UK.

The principal cause of death was gas and smoke, the second highest cause was burns, and the third was a combination of burns and smoke.

In total, there were 52,600 fires in Scotland in 2002, an 11% drop on the 59,400 fires recorded in 2001.

The number of non-fatal casualties in 2002 was 2,045, which represented a decrease of 2% compared with 2001.

Since 1994, the majority of fire deaths have happened in house fires where smoke detectors had not been installed or where the detectors failed to operate.

Higher risk

In 2002, there were 54,077 false alarms, representing just over half of all call-outs.

There were 15 deaths per million population in Scotland in 2002, compared with nine per million in England, 10 per million in Wales and 12 per million in Northern Ireland.

This compares with 2001 when Scotland had nearly twice the fatal casualty rate of other UK countries.

The figures in the report suggest that the reason for Scotland's higher fatality rate per million population is due to a higher risk of fires in the home, rather than a greater likelihood of deaths in such fires.

The fire statistics bulletin report is produced by the Scottish Executive and is based on information from the country's eight fire brigades.

It is the third such report and is intended to provide a detailed overview of Scottish fire statistics during the past decade, at brigade and national level.

In 2002, there were 8,793 deliberate primary fires, involving a casualty or rescue and attended by five or more appliances.