“AMONG DEAD AND WOUNDED”: MAPPING, CHARACTERIZATION AND ANALYSIS OF FIRES WITH VICTIMS IN RECIFE’S METROPOLITAN ZONE

This article presents the mapping and analysis of fires with dead and wounded people in the Metropolitan Region of Recife (MRR) served by the Firefighters Department from 2013 to 2016. There was an average rate of 1 death per million inhabitants, similar to countries such as Singapore and Vietnam. The weighted number of fires per wounded or dead person results in rates of 0.5 and 1.7 per 100 recorded fires, respectively. These numbers are concerning, especially when compared to rates from other regions in the world. The victims of fires in MRR were shown to generally not be a perceivable problem in terms of common sense, yet they are real and require accurate analysis and effective measures.


INTRODUCTION
Despite its importance for the development of civilizations, fire has always been a serious threat to human beings when out of control. The great tragedies lived during the last centuries were the milestone in the search to know better the behavior of fires and its consequences. In urban centers, fires often causes major tragedies with a considerable loss of patrimony and, more importantly, human lives, especially in crowded areas.
Our study was conducted in the Metropolitan Region of Recife (MRR), state of Pernambuco, located in the Northeast Brazil and formed by 14 municipalities, including the capital city. MRR has a population of more than 3.7 million people, representing over 45% of the population of the entire state of Pernambuco, residing in a territory that corresponds to less than 3% of the state extension (IBGE, 2016).
Besides this high population density, there are substandard constructions, known as favelas and slums, as well as tall buildings not always accompanied by the precautionary concerns appropriate to the risks. These factors catalyze the outbreak of fires and represent a challenge for fire safety in terms of minimizing deaths and injuries. During the triennium 2011-2013, the number of fires in the MRR increased more than 15% 1 . Nevertheless, the losses that affect not only the economy, but also social welfare, point to the cruelest aspect of these fires, that is, the victims: people who died or were wounded in fires 2 .
Regarding fire-related mortality and lethality, Paes 3 points out that a statistical control would be very useful. However, this tool is underused in several Latin American countries, providing incomplete, outdated and imprecise data. In a global study performed by IAFRS/CTIF 4 , no data from Brazil or from another Latin American country was described, which can be interpreted as the non-existence or inconsistency of data.
In 2016 alone, 2,503 fires were registered in the Metropolitan Region of Recife, of which 835 were fires in buildings, representing 33.3% of the total number of fires in the MRR 5 .
The high population density is a catalytic factor. Therefore, analyzing the fires in buildings by their mapping, constructive peculiarities, type of occupation, local estimation of primary foci, as well as the existing fire load, can effectively contribute to the implementation of public policies aimed at reducing the problem 6 .

METHODOLOGY
The method used in our research to measure and present data is based on the tabulation of data on events in MRR buildings that caused deaths and wounded people in the period from 2013 to 2016 obtained from the Military Firefighters Department of Pernambuco.
Thus, our study is based on the hypothetical deductive logic proposed by Lakatos and Marconi 7 . They suggest that the research hypothesis should collect subsidies for proof, considering the possible relation between lethal fires and their characterization in the area studied.
For such purpose, we selected all the occurrence reports of fires in buildings in the MRR from the Military Firefighters Department of Pernambuco between 2011 and 2013, and analyzed those that resulted in deaths and wounded people.
The analysis of the selected occurrence reports follows a pattern established in Brazil and allows a better appreciation of the fires, as well as the drawing of a profile of the scenario. Among the points observed are: victim's information (gender and age), emergency address, event characteristics, rescue vehicles used, distance, response time, occurrence history, building characteristics, existing preventive systems, presumed origin of the fire, affected area, type of construction, and fields for observations, which may include, the place where the victim was found, injury site, damaged furniture, victims' schooling, among other data judged important by the on-site team leader. Some information received by the Fire Department was not collected directly with the affected family, but with neighbors and friends due to the emotional state of the relatives of the deceased or injured persons. In some cases, this result in the absence of some information.
Furthermore, in a few cases, there was no one present to provide the data to firefighters, thus resulting in a limited number of information about the occurrence.
Demographic databases of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) were also used in our research.

DISCUSSION AND RESULTS
Fires in Brazilian urban centers result from the disorderly growth and the insufficient fire safety infrastructure of cities. Other factor is the creation and maintenance of favelas or conglomeration of sub-dwellings, composed of precarious constructions made almost exclusively of very flammable materials, with precarious facilities and equipment, becoming a "powder keg" 8   Among the cases that resulted in death, 15 of the 16 buildings involved singlefamily residences, corresponding to 94% of the cases. Of those that resulted in wounded people, 88% were single-family residences, whereas 12% were classified as multifamily residences.
We can clearly observe the predominance of lethal fires in the MRR in single-family residences, or simply "houses", usually built with a single floor and intended for single-family housing.
We emphasize that this is the only Type of Building (TYPE A) 9 without a preventive system against fires, according to the main laws and standards of fire safety in Brazil 10 . Fires in these households out of standards are characterized by confinement of flames in the rooms and free spread of smoke throughout the environment, thus generating a greater probability of injuries and even deaths 11 .
In a study by Santos 11 , in which he compared general fires with residential fires in the state of São Paulo in 2014. The author demonstrated that, although there is a small proportion of fires in households, the percentage of deaths in this type of building was high, close to 90%, in line with the data shown in Table 1. He also mentions that, in some countries, the strategy of using fire detectors as primary prevention is well accepted to mitigate fires with deaths, mainly night fires and those involving older adults and vulnerable people. The primary prevention of deaths in residential fires in Brazil is public education, seeking to avoid the main causes of fire. For Zago et al. 12 , the likelihood of a fire to spread is reduced in buildings with smoke detectors, automatic showers, fire brigade and adequate divisions, which are not found in the houses.
According to Corrêa et al. 6 , fires in single-family buildings account for almost 3/4 of household fires. Table 2 shows some other observations made during data analysis.  * Occurrence disclosed through the media, but not assisted by the MFDPE because the firefighters rescued the victim immediately. At the time of the visit for checking the truthfulness of the information there was no one in the residence, but the occurrence was confirmed.
In Table 2, we can verify that fires involving dead and injured people occurred mostly from 21:00 to 06:00h, representing 43% of the total number of occurrences. This often shows the fragility of residential buildings, mainly single-family dwellings. This type of house does not have internal preventive systems to recognize the beginning of a fire and equipment to control it, especially in hours when a large part of the population is already sleeping or less attentive, resting after an intense day of activities. However, 25% of the occurrences began between 10h and 14h, when many people cook, largely due to negligence and malpractice in the handling of gas cylinders.
The buildings that were burned in fires in the MRR during the studied period had diverse construction modalities. However, residential buildings, either single-or multi-family, were mostly made of masonry. Masonry buildings have walls with structural and divisive function in the environments (structural masonry, resistant masonry). In the MRR, masonry buildings are mostly made of ceramic bricks, according to Figure 1.    Among the 65 occurrences involving deaths and injured people, only 10% occurred in multi-family residences, whereas 90% occurred in single-family residences, mostly located on the suburb of cities. In addition to the existence of preventive systems, although restricted, in multifamily buildings, is another characteristic favorable to lower percentage of lethal events is the profile of the people living in these buildings, generally located in rich areas of the cities. These people have a higher schooling when compared with the population living in the suburbs, in houses with poor facilities 16 . The higher level of schooling and, consequently, the knowledge of what to do in emergencies were possibly factors that minimized greater damages to these people.
Since wounds and deaths caused by fires are a concern not only of the local  factor. According to the data collected in our research, single-family residences were involved in 94% of the fires that resulted in deaths and 88% of those that caused injuries to the victims.
A factor that must be improved to provide more accurate data for possible studies is the completion of the reports by the Firefighter Department. Despite the absence of documents of some fires, all information collected should be considered in the report of the occurrence, including those provided by informants, even in the fields of observations.
Thus, the population's awareness on preventive measures to be adopted is an important task of the Military Firefighter Department of Pernambuco in the fight against the minimization of problems produced by the fires. Moreover, it is necessary to work with children so that they not only pass on the knowledge to their families, but also develop the perception of risks and dangers from fire-propagating actions, since they are statistically the most involved in this scenario of human losses.
Therefore, the monitoring and evaluation of public strategies and policies that strengthen the mitigation of problems are essential to minimize fire-related accidents, especially those involving residential buildings.
Due to the high risk of fires in single-family and multi-family dwellings, we recommend to study a technical standard for this type of buildings, raising questions such as equipment that may contribute to the identification of the beginning of a fire, the attitude of the population in response to the incident, and improved response time of firefighting teams and other measures that preserve people's integrity.
Further studies are needed to deepen questions related to fatality related to fires and to ratify the figures presented in our study by quantitative and qualitative assessments, thus allowing us to increasingly provide information to managers for decision making to reduce the number of dead and injured people.