FIRE SAFETY IN NEW ZEALAND TRANSIENT ACCOMMODATION BUILDINGS

Abstract

Ideally fire safety codes should be rigorously based to mitigate risk to reasonably similar levels over the range of buildings and their usage. Reliable and consistent data on past fire incidents, their consequences and the overall building stock is therefore necessary. Unusually New Zealand has had a national Fire Incident Reporting System (FIRS) since 1975 with more consistent and complete data than other countries. The authors also accessed coronial reports on fire fatalities since 2000 for all fatal fires in New Zealand except for single dwellings to compare fatality rates from fires in different types of transient accommodation (hotels, motels, boarding houses etc). As details of rooms and bedspaces in different types of transient accommodation was not readily available, a list was accessed via an accommodation booking website and approximately one quarter of these were used to assess their size, type of accommodation and quality as reflected by star ratings. The presence of sprinklers was assessed by inspecting interior photographs of rooms where available, and locating externally mounted sprinkler inlets using Google streetview. Allowing for size, the presence of sprinklers was strongly a function of the quality (star rating) of the facility. Although most facilities are not sprinklered, about half the bedspaces are sprinklered. Overall the rate of casualties for all transient accommodation is almost double that for residential and for non-sprinklered accommodation almost four times that of residential. Of particular concern are large low quality facilities such as backpacker accommodation which may have poor fire separations and limited fire safety features. It is recommended that the requirements for fire sprinkler protection within the New Zealand Building Code are increased and a requirement for retrospective upgrading of older buildings, where most accommodation fires occur.

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FIRE SAFETY IN NEW ZEALAND TRANSIENT ACCOMMODATION BUILDINGS
GEOFF THOMAS AND DUNCAN HARDING
Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand
ABSTRACT
Ideally fire safety codes should be rigorously based to mitigate risk to reasonably similar levels over
the range of buildings and their usage. Reliable and consistent data on past fire incidents, their
consequences and the overall building stock is therefore necessary. Unusually New Zealand has had a
national Fire Incident Reporting System (FIRS) since 1975 with more consistent and complete data
than other countries. The authors also accessed coronial reports on fire fatalities since 2000 for all
fatal fires in New Zealand except for single dwellings to compare fatality rates from fires in different
types of transient accommodation (hotels, motels, boarding houses etc). As details of rooms and
bedspaces in different types of transient accommodation was not readily available, a list was accessed
via an accommodation booking website and approximately one quarter of these were used to assess
their size, type of accommodation and quality as reflected by star ratings. The presence of sprinklers
was assessed by inspecting interior photographs of rooms where available, and locating externally
mounted sprinkler inlets using Google streetview. Allowing for size, the presence of sprinklers was
strongly a function of the quality (star rating) of the facility. Although most facilities are not
sprinklered, about half the bedspaces are sprinklered. Overall the rate of casualties for all transient
accommodation is almost double that for residential and for non-sprinklered accommodation almost
four times that of residential. Of particular concern are large low quality facilities such as backpacker
accommodation which may have poor fire separations and limited fire safety features. It is
recommended that the requirements for fire sprinkler protection within the New Zealand Building
Code are increased and a requirement for retrospective upgrading of older buildings, where most
accommodation fires occur.
KEYWORDS:
Fire Safety; Transient accommodation; Fatalities; Building Codes; Sprinklers.
INTRODUCTION
The majority of fire fatalities in New Zealand are in residential accommodation that is permanent
dwellings. This is consistent with sleeping occupancies being higher risk than other occupancies, as
occupants will not be aware of a fire unless woken by a fire alarm or other external means. It is not
physically possible to smell while asleep, so unlike wake individuals a fire will not be identified by the
smell of burning. The other types of sleeping accommodation are sleeping under care or detention,
that is rest homes, hospitals, prisons and so on, and transient accommodation. Transient
accommodation, as defined by the Residential Tenancies Act (NZ Govt 1986), is “accommodation that
is ordinarily provided for periods of less than 28 days at a time.” It has a similar meaning in the
Building Act (NZ Govt 2004) and the New Zealand Building Code (NZ Govt 1991). Buildings used
for sleeping under care or detention now have a high level of fire safety, after changes to fire safety
requirements after several multiple fatality fires. Although the number of fatalities is lower in
transient than residential accommodation, more people spend more time at home, rather than in hotels
and motels and other transient accommodation, so in terms of risk, transient systems, may be worse.
The worst fires in New Zealand, in terms of fatalities have been in transient accommodation, since the
Sprott House, a rest home fire in 1969 that resulted in the loss of seven lives (McLean, 1992).
Transient accommodation overall has a higher level of fire safety systems such as automatic smoke
detection and sprinklers, however in both older residential and transient accommodation automatic fire
detection may not be present. Surprisingly, very little data exists on fire sprinkler rates of transient

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accommodation buildings in New Zealand. A report published in 1976 by H.E. G. Henderson gives an
overview of hotel fires and fatalities between 1958 and 1975, but since that time, the data has not been
updated or further research undertaken, despite two significant changes to the New Zealand Building
Code. This project provides a contemporary analysis of transient accommodation in relation to fire
fatalities in New Zealand. It is based on the collecting of two data sets: accommodation and fire
fatalities. In this project, a random sample of accommodation buildings in New Zealand was taken and
analysed for the presence of fire sprinklers.
Transient accommodation fatality Fires
As the number of fire fatalities in transient accommodation buildings is relatively small, Table 1 below
summarises all fatal fires since 1986. Following this table is a qualitative description of the three worst
transient accommodation fires.
DateoffireDescriptionoffire
24April1987AndersonsBayRoad,Dunedin
Onepersondiesinamotelfire.
18October1987TeRoopuRapuHostel
Onepersondiesinahostelfire
27December1987TaneatuaHotel
Threechildrendieinahotelfire.
17June1989MasonicHotel
Onepersondiesinahotelfire.
13March1991AnzacParade,Wanganui
Twopeopledieinamotelfire.
20November1992FerryRoadHostel
Sevendieinashedusedforsleepingaccommodationatahostelafterbeddingcaught
alight.
19February1993SeaviewHotel
Twomendieinahotelfire.
4February1995NewEmpireHotel
Sixdiewhenafireisdeliberatelylitinthelobbyofthehotel.Firedoorswerepropped
opencausingthefiretorapidlyspreadtoallthreefloorsofthebuilding.
21February1995WellingtonStreet,Nelson
Onepersondiesinabackpackerfire.
16December2000QuayWestHotel
A24yearoldmalediesafterhisgrassskirtcostumeisdeliberatelysetalightinthe5th
floortoiletsofa4.5starhotel.
5August2005UnicornMotel
A63yearoldmalediesafterpetrolvapourexplodesinamotelroom.Itcouldnotbe
ruledoutthatthefirewasnotdeliberate.
6May2007TimbertopsMotorPark
A35yearoldmalediesafterhisbedcatchesfireinaholidayparkcabin.
Table 1: Description of fatal fires in transient accommodation since 1986
Taneatua Hotel – 1987
Luke Hessey (6), David Hessey (4), and Heath Flutey (10) died in a hotel fire during the early hours of
27 December 1987. The three were sleeping in an upstairs bedroom and were rescued by volunteer
firemen, but died soon after due to smoke inhalation. The building did not contain any smoke detectors
(Graham, 1987).
Ferry Road Hostel – 1992
A shed at the rear of the Ferry Road Hostel in Christchurch was being used for sleeping by a group of
young people on the night of 20 November 1992. The shed was not licensed for residential use and
therefore did not meet minimum requirements under the Building Code or contain fire detection or
suppression. A fire developed in the early hours of the morning, starting in a mattress most probably

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by discarded smoking materials. The fire resulted in the deaths of all 7 occupants, 6 of whom were
found to have significant levels of solvents and alcohol in their blood (Miller, 2008).
New Empire Hotel – 1995
On 4 February 1995, Alan Lory, a previous resident of the hotel (Figure 1), deliberately started a fire
around 3.30am which quickly spread through the entrance lobby, stairwell, and third floor of the hotel.
There were 35 occupants within the hotel at the time, with 8 on level one, 16 on level two, and 11 on
the third level. Occupants Keith Lazenby (64), Terrence Holland (74), William Ward (70), Murray
Jackson (59), and Kathleen Ellis (34) died in the blaze, and Bret Jones (18) died from jumping out of a
third floor window to avoid the fire. Lory was charged with 6 counts of manslaughter and 1 charge of
arson and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Investigators found a significant cause of the loss of life
was fire doors that were left open, allowing the fire to quickly spread. The hotel was originally built in
1914 as a boarding house and was extensively renovated in 1974, although the buildings use,
providing low cost accommodation, did not change (Miller, 2008).
Figure 1: New Empire Hotel c 1975. Hamilton City Libraries. (c1975). New Empire Hotel
[Photograph]. Retrieved from:
http://hamiltonlibraries.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16653coll13/id/16
None of these buildings contained sprinkler systems and there is no information that states that
automatic detection was present, and in many cases the records state that automatic smoke detection
and/or fire alarms were not present.
ACCOMMODATION SURVEY
Aggregated data on transient accommodation establishments is collected and published by Statistics
New Zealand in a monthly accommodation survey, it does not account for all transient accommodation
types, nor does it contain information about fire protection (Statistics NZ, 2012a). The Department of
Building and Housing also does not hold any relevant data. An analysis of a random sample of
accommodation buildings was therefore undertaken to provide the required data.
The comprehensive accommodation website, the New Zealand Tourism Guide, was used to produce a
list of transient accommodation providers (Tourism NZ, 2013). This list contained 9000 providers,
including hotels, motels, backpackers, bed and breakfasts, holiday parks, holiday houses, lodges, and
apartments. For this study, due to building similarity across several of the accommodation types, a
reduced number of accommodation categories could be used. Definitions were taken from Tourism
New Zealand. In this study, the definition of backpackers was expanded to incorporate rural hotels,
particularly if they contained shared bunk-type accommodation, to better align with data provided by
the New Zealand Fire Service. Similarly, the definition for bed and breakfasts was expanded to
include farmstays, homestays, and luxury lodges and retreats due to their similar nature of hosted

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accommodation in a residential house-type dwelling. The definitions for apartments, holiday parks,
holiday homes, hotels (with the exception of rural hotels), and motels remained as described by
Tourism New Zealand.
Each accommodation establishment from the list was assigned a random number from 1 to 9000 in an
excel spread sheet, these were sorted into numerical order and the first 500 with sufficient information
for analysis were used to produce the sample. Some establishments (20%) were no longer operating or
did not provide sufficient online information about their accommodation and were therefore excluded
from the sample.
Each accommodation provider was analysed to obtain the number of accommodation units, type of
accommodation, Qualmark star rating (if rated), the number of floors, and whether the building was
fire sprinkler protected. This information was sourced online via the accommodation provider’s
website and multiple accommodation review websites such as agoda.com, booking.com,
expedia.co.nz, wotif.co.nz, holidayhouses.co.nz, jasons.co.nz, and tripadvisor.com. Although the vast
majority of information was recorded for use by the tourism industry, by utilising multiple sources,
enough information could be gathered for this study. The presence of fire sprinklers was particularly
difficult to assess and was determined by inspecting interior photographs of rooms where available,
locating sprinkler inlets on the outside of buildings using Google Street View, and searching for user
reviews of accommodation for mention of fire sprinklers. Although many of the ‘higher-end’
providers would digitally remove fire sprinklers from their official photography, often user uploaded
reviews, comments, and photographs would determine the presence of sprinklers. The sample of 500
included a breakdown of accommodation types as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Percentage of accommodation types included in sample.
The sample is one twelfth of the overall accommodation in New Zealand and can be considered an
accurate representation.
FIRE FATALITIES
The majority of fire fatalities are recorded by the New Zealand Fire Service in the Fire Incident
Reporting System (FIRS). The data in FIRS dates back to 1975 with the establishment of the National
Fire Service (NZFS 2011). While data exists previous to 1975, its reliability is uncertain. A list was
taken from FIRS of all accommodation fire fatalities in New Zealand. 40 fatalities were recorded since
1975. If the search is extended back to 1950, 56 fatalities are recorded. Not all fatalities are recorded
in FIRS data, with several fatalities not recorded between 1968 and 1973. Media searches, using the

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newspaper indexes Index New Zealand, the New Zealand Index database, and the Auckland Libraries
New Zealand Card Index, were used to obtain media reports of fire fatalities in accommodation
buildings. An additional 9 fatalities were found, all during the period of 1968 to 1973. A summary of
number of fatalities per year is given in Table 2.
YearNumberof
fatalitiesYearNumberof
fatalitiesYearNumberof
fatalities
200711987519722
200511986319715
200011984219681
199571981119627
199321979419613
199271977119601
199121976219591
198911973119564
Table 2: Number of fire fatalities in transient accommodation buildings in New Zealand
FIRE SPRINKLERS IN TRANSIENT ACCOMMODATION
Seven percent of accommodation establishments contain fire sprinklers compared to 93% without
sprinklers. However, 43% of accommodation units contain fire sprinklers compared to 57% of units
not containing sprinklers, based on the average number of units per establishment. This analysis, due
to the variability and difficulty in obtaining the number of bed spaces, will be based on the number of
units.
Occupancy rates vary by accommodation type, with a range within the 2012 year from 56%
occupancy for hotels to 15% for holiday parks (Statistics NZ, 2012b). Occupancy rates tend to be
higher in the accommodation types that are more likely to be fire sprinkler protected. On average, it
can be expected that 47% of occupied units contain fire sprinklers as opposed to 53% of occupied
units without sprinklers. Although most establishments are not sprinklered, just less than one-half of
the occupied units are sprinkler protected.
Factors Influencing Presence of Fire Sprinklers
Hotels are most likely to be sprinklered, with 51% of hotel establishments containing fire sprinklers.
Apartments and backpackers are the next likely to be sprinklered, with 24% and 10% of
establishments types respectively. Only one motel and one bed and breakfast contained sprinklers
within the sample. No holiday houses or holiday parks in the sample are sprinklered.
The greater the number of units, the more likely it is for the establishment to be fire sprinklered. All
establishments with more than 151 units were sprinklered, as were 60% of establishments between 101
and 150 units, 18% of establishments between 21 and 100 units, and about 1% of establishments
between 4 and 20 units. No establishments of three or fewer units were spinklered. The number of
units also relates to the overall building size of the establishment, as more units require a greater floor
plate and/or building height. Less than 1% of buildings with one floor were sprinklered. This rate
increases to 3% of buildings with two floors, and 19% of buildings with three to five floors. 95% of
buildings with 6 or more floors were sprinklered, with all buildings over 7 floors containing fire
sprinklers. The greater the number of units and floors, the more likely a building is to be sprinklered
which is consistent with the requirements of the New Zealand Building Code.
Qualmark is the primary rating system used to assess accommodation standards in New Zealand. Only
119 of the 500 (24%) accommodation providers in the accommodation sample had a voluntary
Qualmark rating. Lower quality establishments are less likely to have a Qualmark rating (Statistics
NZ, 2012b, & Qualmark 2013). There is a higher percentage of sprinklers in Qualmark rated

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establishments. Of those establishments rated 3 stars and above, 17.6% contained sprinklers as
compared to 3.2% non-rated establishments. For hotels, motels, and backpackers, of those rated 3 stars
or higher, 23.5% contain fire sprinklers compared to 5.1% for non-rated accommodation. A trend is
evident in the Qualmark ratings of hotels, motels, and backpackers whereby a higher rating
corresponds to an increased likelihood of the building containing fire sprinklers. Additionally, as with
all accommodation types, those hotels, motels, and backpackers that are Qualmark rated are more
likely to contain fire sprinklers than those that are not rated.
The majority of accommodation establishments contain between 4 and 20 units and are not Qualmark
rated. There are very few establishments with 3 or fewer units or greater than 100 units. As a
comparison, Statistics New Zealand records the average number of units per establishment for the year
ending 2012 as 56.6 units per hotel, 16.1 units per motel, and 61.4 units per backpackers, with a
combined average of 31.4 units per establishment. Figure 3 shows the number of buildings containing
fire sprinklers for accommodation sizes and Qualmark rating,
Figure 3: Presence of fire sprinklers by accommodation size and Qualmark rating in
establishments
The majority of establishments that are likely to be fire sprinklered are any with more than 151 units,
regardless of Qualmark rating. Overall, the data shows a correlation between Qualmark rating, number
of units in an establishment, and the presence of fire sprinklers. The correlation between size and
rating is most probably due to the facilities (such as swimming pools and restaurants) that must be
provided to obtain a higher star rating. In most cases, it may only be profitable for the larger
establishments to provide the required facilities for higher quality ratings.
FIRE FATALITIES IN ACCOMMODATION BUILDINGS COMPARED WITH DOMESTIC
DWELLINGS
Between the period of 1975 and 2011, the New Zealand Fire Service records a total of 970 residential
fire fatalities (NZFS 2011). Within these 37 years, the average fatality rate is 26.22 fatalities per year.
Within the Fire Incident Statistics, residential fires include those in houses, flats, home units,
apartments, boarding houses, half-way houses, dormitories, hotels, motels, lodges, and residential
outbuildings such as garages, garden sheds, and glasshouses. As such, there is no distinction between
transient and permanent accommodation and different building types, which is required to compare
fire fatality data with information on the number of buildings in New Zealand. While separate
residential categories of fire fatalities are recorded for most years, there is a period during the 1990s
that only contains aggregated data. Of the years where information is separately categorised, an
average of 93% of fatalities occur within buildings used for permanent residences, including houses,
flats, and apartments. This percentage can be used to approximate the number of fatalities in

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permanent residences for those years where data is aggregated. Figure 4 compares the number of
fatalities in permanent residences to the number of fatalities in transient accommodation per year.
Figure 4: Comparison of fire fatalities in permanent residences and transient accommodation
per year
While there are a lower number of fatalities in transient accommodation, it does not mean there is a
lower level of risk than in permanent residences. A comparison can be made by measuring the fatality
rate per 100,000 dwellings. Data from the New Zealand Census, the accommodation surveys
undertaken by Statistics New Zealand, and the data gained from the accommodation sample within
this project can be used to determine the number of these buildings in New Zealand. A combination of
sources is required in which to appropriate the number of buildings, as no definitive source can state
how many single units houses there are in New Zealand, let alone how many bed spaces exist in multi-
storey apartment buildings. Table 3 shows an approximate count of the number of buildings in New
Zealand.
Permanentresidences
SeparateHouse1,193,358
Twoormore
flats/units/townhouses/apartments/houses
joinedtogether
266,751
Totaloccupieddwellings1,460,109
Transientaccommodation
Hotels557
Motels1798
Backpackers442
Holidayparks417
Bedandbreakfasts1992
Holidayhomes504
Apartments204
Totalallaccommodation5914
Table 3: Number of permanent residences and transient accommodation in New Zealand
(Statistics NZ 2012b, 2013)
Since 1975, there have been a total of 899 fire fatalities in permanent residences with an average of
24.3 fatalities per year. Likewise, since 1975 there have been a total of 40 fire fatalities in transient
accommodation with an average of about 1.08 fatalities per year. Based on this data, there are about
1.6 fire fatalities per 100,000 permanent residences per year compared to around 18 fire fatalities per
100,000 transient accommodation establishments per year. If the total number of fire fatalities for each
residential type since 1975 is considered, there has been a rate of around 62 fatalities per 100,000
permanent residence compared to around 676 fatalities per 100,000 transient accommodation
establishments. As such, there is a factor of risk 11 times greater in transient accommodation in
comparison to permanent residences.

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The results change when the number of residential bedrooms and accommodation units are compared
instead of the number of establishments. There are an average of 3.10 bedrooms per private occupied
dwelling in the 2013 census (Statistics NZ, 2013). The sample of transient accommodation taken in
this project averaged 19.1 units per establishment. In this case, there can be assumed to be
approximately 4,526,000 bedrooms in permanent residences and 113,000 units in transient
accommodation in New Zealand. This results in a rate around 0.5 for fatalities per 100,000 permanent
residential bedrooms per year and around 1 fatality per 100,000 transient accommodation units per
year. If the total number of fatalities since 1975 is used, the rate is about 20 fatalities per 100,000
permanent residential units and about 35 fatalities per 100,000 transient accommodation units. As
such, there is a factor of risk almost 2 times greater in transient accommodation units in comparison to
bedrooms in a permanent residence.
As discussed earlier within the paper, only 43% of accommodation units are fire sprinkler protected.
This percentage means that approximately 64,500 accommodation units are unsprinklered within New
Zealand. Assuming the rate of fire fatalities in sprinklered accommodation is zero, the rate per 100,000
unsprinklered units is 1.7 fire fatalities per year. This rate in unsprinklered units is just over three
times the risk posed by bedrooms in permanent residences.
Types of accommodation where fire fatalities occur
Most fatalities tend to occur in small to medium sized buildings with facilities similar to those of lower
star ratings and without fire sprinkler protection. While FIRS data extends back to 1975, the amount of
qualitative data collected with each incident varies. Fatalities since 1986 record significantly more
information that those prior to 1986, where only the number of fatalities per year is recorded.
Additionally, not all fatalities were able to be sourced in media reports. The analysis includes number
of fatal fires and fire fatalities per year and the number of fatalities per fire (figure 5). The
accommodation type, age of accommodation building, and presence of fire sprinklers is also recorded.
Figure 5: Number of fatal fire and fire fatalities in transient accommodation buildings per year
Over half of the number of fatal fires resulted in only one fatality, but single fatality fires only
comprise 26% of fatalities so fatal fires in transient accommodation are likely to result in multiple
fatalities.
The majority of fatalities occurred in hotel and backpacker accommodation (Figure 6). The hotels in
which fatalities occurred tended to be similar to those with low star ratings and in some cases have
greater similarities to backpackers than to 4 or 5 star hotels. While this issue is discussed later in the
paper, it is of note that there is only one fatality in a large, fire sprinklered hotel. Additionally, there is
only one fatality in a holiday park but the number of fatalities relates to accommodation buildings

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provided onsite and does not include any fire fatalities that occurred in caravans or tents within
holiday parks. There are a similar number of fatal fires between hotels, motels, and backpackers,
although hotels and backpackers are more likely to result in multiple fatalities.
Figure 6: Number of fatal fire and number of fatalities by accommodation type
The decade in which the building was constructed is important in relating building code requirements
to buildings where fatalities have occurred. In New Zealand, changes to the building codes only apply
to new buildings or buildings that undergo significant renovation. Two buildings within the sample in
the graph above were extensively renovated and are recorded by date of renovation, rather than date of
construction. The majority of fires occur in buildings constructed or renovated between the 1940s and
1970s, well before automatic smoke detection became mandatory in sleeping areas (Figure 7). Overall,
the trend is that fatal fires and the majority of fatalities occur in older buildings, with only one fatality
recorded following the 1992 change in building code and no fatalities recorded in buildings following
the 2004 building code changes.
Figure 7: Number of buildings with fatal fires per decade constructed or renovated and number
of fatalities per decade which the building was constructed or renovated
Only one fire, resulting in a single fatality, contained fire sprinklers, however as the individual
concerned had his clothes set alight it is highly unlikely sprinkles would have had an effect on the
outcome of this fire (Corbett, 2001). Nearly all of the fatal fires and fatalities occurred in non-
sprinklered buildings and all of the multiple fatality fires occurred in non-sprinklered buildings. From
this, it can be observed that fire sprinklers in transient accommodation have a significant correlation to
preventing fire fatalities.

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Overall, the results indicate that fire fatalities occur in older unsprinklered transient accommodation
buildings. Multiple fatalities are also more likely to occur in hotel and backpacker accommodation
with facilities similar to those with lower star ratings.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Requirements for fire sprinkler protection within the New Zealand Building Code should be more
rigorous, particularly by reducing the height and size requirements for sprinkler protection in transient
accommodation buildings. As the majority of fire fatalities occur in older accommodation
establishments, without automatic smoke detection, it is recommended that the building code is made
retro-active for transient accommodation buildings, so that all buildings are brought up to current code
requirements for automatic smoke detection in sleeping areas.
CONCLUSION
This paper has discussed the difficulty in accessing data on fire sprinkler rates in transient
accommodation buildings in New Zealand. A sample was undertaken of 500 accommodation
establishments to fill the gap in data and was used to determine the rates of fire sprinkler protection in
transient accommodation buildings. While only 7% of accommodation establishments contained fire
sprinklers, 43% of units in transient accommodation were sprinkler protected due to the larger size of
sprinklered accommodation. Building size, including the number of units in an establishment and the
number of floors, and Qualmark star ratings had an impact on whether an establishment was sprinkler
protected. Large, multi-storey, high quality accommodation was more likely to be sprinkler protected
as compared to small to medium, low-rise, low quality accommodation.
Fire fatalities in transient accommodation since 1986 have practically all occurred in unsprinklered
establishments. The rate per 100,000 units in transient accommodation is approximately 1, which is
around twice the risk of bedrooms in permanent residential dwellings per year. If fatalities are
assumed to only occur in unsprinklered accommodation, the rate increases to 1.7 per 100,000 units in
unsprinklered transient accommodation per year. Multiple fatalities were also common in transient
accommodation, with low quality hotels and backpackers presenting a higher risk. Low quality,
unsprinklered hotel and backpacker accommodation are of particular concern as they provide the
highest fire fatality risk.
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