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Most civilian deaths in fires occur in one- and two-family dwellings, and these fires are most commonly caused by smoking and heating system failures. To examine the role of heavy drinking in deadly house fires, researchers used coroners' reports of fatalities from unintentional, mostly residential, fires in the state of Victoria, Australia, during 1998–2006.
Of the 95 adults who died in residential fires and for whom blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) were determined, 58% had positive results. In this group, 94% had BACs greater than 0.10%, 31% had BACs greater than 0.20%, and the mean BAC was 0.22. Alcohol was three times more likely to be a factor in deaths of men than women. The likelihood that smoking caused the fire was four times gre…