A population-based descriptive study of housefire deaths in North Carolina.

We report a population-based study of housefire deaths in North Carolina in 1985 using data obtained from fire investigators and the North Carolina medical examiner system. The crude death rate was 3.2 per 100,000 population; age-specific death rates were highest for ages 75-84 years. Death rates for Whites were one-third as high as death rates for other races. Of those decedents tested for alcohol, 56 percent had blood alcohol levels greater than or equal to 22 mmol/L. Most fatal fires were caused by heating units or cigarettes.