Indigenous communities at far greater risk of death in domestic fires, survey finds – NNSL
July 31, 2025
Five times greater chance of fires being fatal
People living in Indigenous communities are five times more likely to die in a fire and 13 times more likely to die in a structure fire — and how nearly a quarter of the blazes started is a mystery, according to a survey of over 4,000 incidents across Canada.
A study by the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada looked at 4,089 residential fires in Indigenous communities from 2005 to 2021. Those incidents resulted in 191 deaths and 179 injuries. Of the 4,089 fires examined, 967 had an unknown cause — that’s 23.6 per cent. The source of ignition is unknown for 1,447 incidents. For comparison, the percentage of fires with unknown origins in non-Indigenous communities is 11 per cent and unknown source of ignition is 21 per cent.
