{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,5]],"date-time":"2026-05-05T12:33:03Z","timestamp":1777984383744,"version":"3.51.4"},"update-to":[{"DOI":"10.12688\/hrbopenres.14341.1","type":"new_version","label":"New version","source":"publisher","updated":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,16]],"date-time":"2026-04-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1776297600000}}],"reference-count":49,"publisher":"F1000 Research Ltd","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,16]],"date-time":"2026-04-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1776297600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["hrbopenresearch.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["HRB Open Res"],"abstract":"<ns3:p>Introduction Alcohol-related fatal fires represent a tragic but preventable death. Geographic features of these events can inform prevention campaigns and are important to consider in combination with other risk factors. This study aims to examine the factors associated with alcohol-related versus non-alcohol-related fatal fires, and to examine geographical characteristics of alcohol-related fatal fires in Ireland. Method Using Irish Coronial data, we looked at all 273 fire fatalities for the period 2014 to 2021, of which 112 (41.0%) had positive alcohol toxicology. Descriptive analyses were conducted followed by logistic regression and geospatial analyses to understand the characteristics of alcohol-related fatal fires. Results Compared to non-alcohol related fatal fires, the proportion of fatal fires that involved alcohol was higher among 35\u201349-year-olds (65.9%) smokers (54.7%) and those accompanied by friends (86.7%). In regression analyses, history of alcohol dependency was the only significant risk factor for a fatal fire being alcohol-related although this may be due to the modest sample size limiting statistical power rather than a true absence of association. Rural areas were over-represented in alcohol-related fatal fires, with an annual average 0.37 deaths per 100,000 people in rural areas for every 0.25 in urban areas. Alcohol-related fires that occurred in rural areas involved a longer travel time and distance to the nearest fire station but there was no significant association between alcohol-related fires and area-level deprivation. Conclusions People with a history of alcohol dependency suffer higher rates of alcohol-related vs non-alcohol-related fatal fires. These deaths are avoidable, and it is essential that alcohol use is acknowledged as a contributory risk factor and efforts be made to raise awareness and target at-risk individuals.<\/ns3:p>","DOI":"10.12688\/hrbopenres.14341.2","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,27]],"date-time":"2026-04-27T06:44:05Z","timestamp":1777272245000},"page":"15","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.12688\/hrbopenres.crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Geographical characteristics and other factors associated with alcohol-related fatal fires in Ireland 2014 \u2013 2021"],"prefix":"10.12688","volume":"9","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2776-3476","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anne","family":"Doyle","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Population Health, School of Medicine and Population Health, University of Sheffield, Regent Court, 30 Regent Street, Sheffield, Sheffield England S1 4DA, UK The University of Sheffield School of Health and Related Research"},{"name":"Evidence Dublin D02 H638 Health Research Board"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Abigail K.","family":"Stevely","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Population Health, School of Medicine and Population Health, University of Sheffield, Regent Court, 30 Regent Street, Sheffield, Sheffield England S1 4DA, UK The University of Sheffield School of Health and Related Research"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4635-6673","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Suzi","family":"Lyons","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Evidence Dublin D02 H638 Health Research Board"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"James","family":"McBride","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management Dublin D01 W6X0 Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Fiona","family":"Riordan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Evidence Dublin D02 H638 Health Research Board"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"John","family":"Holmes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Population Health, School of Medicine and Population Health, University of Sheffield, Regent Court, 30 Regent Street, Sheffield, Sheffield England S1 4DA, UK The University of Sheffield School of Health and Related Research"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"2560","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2162-2203","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(24)00933-4","article-title":"Global burden and strength of evidence for 88 risk factors in 204 countries and 811 subnational locations, 1990\u20132021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021.","volume":"403","author":"M Brauer","year":"2024","journal-title":"Lancet."},{"key":"ref3","article-title":"Over a third of road user fatalities have a positive toxicology for alcohol.","year":"2021 Mar 16"},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"200-213","DOI":"10.1080\/10550887.2020.1736757","article-title":"Alcohol use and risk of suicide: a systematic review and Meta-analysis.","volume":"38","author":"S Amiri","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Addict. Dis."},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"731-736","DOI":"10.15288\/jsad.2011.72.731","article-title":"Fire fatality and alcohol intake: analysis of key risk factors.","volume":"72","author":"D Bruck","year":"2011","journal-title":"J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs."},{"key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"131-137","DOI":"10.1136\/injuryprev-2016-042174","article-title":"Risk factors associated with unintentional house fire incidents, injuries and deaths in high-income countries: a systematic review.","volume":"23","author":"S Turner","year":"2017","journal-title":"Inj. Prev."},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"102892","DOI":"10.1016\/j.firesaf.2019.102892","article-title":"Profile of fire fatalities in Ireland using coronial data.","volume":"110","author":"A Doyle","year":"2019 Dec","journal-title":"Fire Saf. J."},{"key":"ref9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"449-454","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jflm.2009.05.005","article-title":"Fire-related fatalities in Istanbul, Turkey: analysis of 320 forensic autopsy cases.","volume":"16","author":"Y B\u00fcy\u00fck","year":"2009","journal-title":"J. Forensic Leg. Med."},{"key":"ref10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1217-1232","DOI":"10.1080\/13669877.2017.1301537","article-title":"An exploration of alcohol-related fire incidences.","volume":"21","author":"E Dean","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Risk Res."},{"key":"ref11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"233-237","DOI":"10.1016\/S1353-1131(99)90003-2","article-title":"Incidence trends in house fire fatalities in Eastern Scotland.","volume":"6","author":"L Jordan","year":"1999","journal-title":"J. Clin. Forensic Med."},{"key":"ref12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"145-150","DOI":"10.1136\/ip.5.2.145","article-title":"House fire injury prevention update. Part I. A review of risk factors for fatal and non-fatal house fire injury.","volume":"5","author":"L Warda","year":"1999","journal-title":"Inj. Prev."},{"key":"ref13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"444-451","DOI":"10.1006\/pmed.1998.0295","article-title":"Fatal residential fire accidents in the municipality of Copenhagen, 1991\u20131996.","volume":"27","author":"P Leth","year":"1998","journal-title":"Prev. Med."},{"key":"ref14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1783-1802","DOI":"10.1007\/s10694-020-01083-w","article-title":"Population trends and fire prevention in Merseyside UK.","volume":"57","author":"M Taylor","year":"2021","journal-title":"Fire. Technol."},{"key":"ref16","article-title":"Fire Statistics.","year":"cited 2024 Aug 18"},{"key":"ref59","article-title":"Fire-related hospitalisations 2015 \u2013 2023.","author":"A Doyle","year":"2024"},{"key":"ref17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"100585-100585","DOI":"10.1016\/j.lanepe.2023.100585","article-title":"The public health implications of the cost-of-living crisis: outlining mechanisms and modelling consequences.","volume":"27","author":"B Rachel","year":"2023","journal-title":"Lancet Reg. Health Eur."},{"key":"ref19","first-page":"612-619","article-title":"Drinking Contexts and Alcohol Consumption: How Much Alcohol Is Consumed in Different Australian Locations?","volume":"77","author":"C Michael","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs."},{"key":"ref20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"42-47","DOI":"10.1111\/dar.12545","article-title":"How much alcohol is consumed outside of the lifetime risk guidelines in Australia?","volume":"37","author":"S Callinan","year":"2018","journal-title":"Drug Alcohol Rev."},{"key":"ref22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2289-2303","DOI":"10.1111\/add.15355","article-title":"A systematic review and meta-analysis on the association between solitary drinking and alcohol problems in adults.","volume":"116","author":"C Skrzynski","year":"2021","journal-title":"Addiction."},{"key":"ref23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2625-2634","DOI":"10.1111\/add.15969","article-title":"Domestication of drinking: a survey study of changes in types of drinking occasions during periods of increasing and decreasing alcohol consumption in the 2000s in Finland.","volume":"117","author":"P M\u00e4kel\u00e4","year":"2022","journal-title":"Addiction."},{"key":"ref24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"196-203","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1365-2869.2008.00710.x","article-title":"How does the pitch and pattern of a signal affect auditory arousal thresholds?","volume":"18","author":"D Bruck","year":"2009","journal-title":"J. Sleep Res."},{"key":"ref25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"180-187","DOI":"10.1007\/s12024-018-9981-y","article-title":"Review of autopsy reports of deaths relating to fire in South Australia 2000-2015.","volume":"14","author":"C Sully","year":"2018","journal-title":"Forensic Sci. Med. Pathol."},{"key":"ref26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.3801\/IAFSS.FSS.8-507","article-title":"Statistical modelling of the effect of alcohol and sound intensity on response to fire alarms.","author":"A Hasofer","year":"2005"},{"key":"ref27","article-title":"The effect of alcohol upon response to fire alarm signals in sleeping young adults.","author":"M Ball","year":"2004"},{"key":"ref28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1144-1159","DOI":"10.3801\/IAFSS.FSS.11-1144","article-title":"An investigation into the circumstances surrounding elderly dwelling fire fatalities and the barriers to implementing fire safety strategies among this group.","volume":"11","author":"A Harpur","year":"2014","journal-title":"Fire Saf. Sci."},{"key":"ref29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7-12","DOI":"10.1016\/j.amepre.2005.08.045","article-title":"Perceived risk of home fire and escape plans in rural households.","volume":"30","author":"J Yang","year":"2006","journal-title":"Am. J. Prev. Med."},{"key":"ref30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"154-161","DOI":"10.1093\/pubmed\/fdn103","article-title":"Fatal and non-fatal fire injuries in England 1995\u20132004: time trends and inequalities by age, sex and area deprivation.","volume":"31","author":"C Mulvaney","year":"2009","journal-title":"J. Public Health."},{"key":"ref31","first-page":"325-337","article-title":"An exploration of alcohol and drug related fire injuries.","volume":"11","author":"M Taylor","year":"2022","journal-title":"Int. J. Emerg. Serv."},{"key":"ref32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"264-269","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1748-0361.2007.00100.x","article-title":"Risk factors for rural residential fires.","volume":"23","author":"V Allareddy","year":"2007","journal-title":"J. Rural. Health."},{"key":"ref33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"859-863","DOI":"10.1056\/NEJM199209173271207","article-title":"Risk factors for fatal residential fires.","volume":"327","author":"C Runyan","year":"1992","journal-title":"N. Engl. J. Med."},{"key":"ref34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"193-226","DOI":"10.1007\/s10109-009-0102-z","article-title":"Investigating the association between weather conditions, calendar events and socio-economic patterns with trends in fire incidence: an Australian case study.","volume":"13","author":"J Corcoran","year":"2011","journal-title":"J. Geogr. Syst."},{"key":"ref35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"586-603","DOI":"10.1108\/DPM-09-2017-0213","article-title":"Examining spatio-temporal patterns, drivers and trends of residential fires in South East Queensland, Australia.","volume":"27","author":"P Chhetri","year":"2018","journal-title":"Disaster Prev. Manag."},{"key":"ref36","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"52-66","DOI":"10.1080\/00085030.2024.2430422","article-title":"A review of accidental residential fire death investigations in Alberta 2012\u20132021.","volume":"58","author":"A Kamal","year":"2024","journal-title":"J. Can. Soc. Forensic Sci."},{"key":"ref37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"89-100","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jsr.2017.06.008","article-title":"The state of the residential fire fatality problem in Sweden: Epidemiology, risk factors, and event typologies.","volume":"62","author":"A Jonsson","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. Saf. Res."},{"key":"ref39","article-title":"Trends in deaths among drug users in Ireland from traumatic and medical causes, 1998 to 2005.","author":"E Lynn","year":"2009 Nov 19 cited 2009 Nov 23"},{"key":"ref60","article-title":"Fire Stations of the Republic of Ireland Dataset [Internet].","year":"2026"},{"key":"ref43","article-title":"Urban and rural population of the Republic of Ireland from 1960 to 2022.","year":"2024 cited 2024 Dec 14"},{"key":"ref44","article-title":"Census 2016 Boundary Files.","year":"cited 2024 Oct 4"},{"key":"ref45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"26-34","DOI":"10.1093\/oxfordjournals.aje.a116198","article-title":"Association of smoking and alcohol drinking with residential fire injuries.","volume":"135","author":"J Ballard","year":"1992","journal-title":"Am. J. Epidemiol."},{"key":"ref46","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"358-364","DOI":"10.1136\/injuryprev-2017-042343","article-title":"Identifying vulnerable populations to death and injuries from residential fires.","volume":"24","author":"S Gilbert","year":"2018","journal-title":"Inj. Prev."},{"key":"ref47","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"321-325","DOI":"10.1177\/002580249703700407","article-title":"Alcohol and house fire fatalities in Scotland, 1980\u20131990.","volume":"37","author":"T Squires","year":"1997","journal-title":"Med. Sci. Law."},{"key":"ref48","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"104073","DOI":"10.1016\/j.firesaf.2023.104073","article-title":"An analysis of cooking fire injuries 2011 to 2022 in Merseyside UK.","volume":"143","author":"M Taylor","year":"2024","journal-title":"Fire Saf. J."},{"key":"ref49","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"68-84","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jsr.2022.04.007","article-title":"Residential fire fatality typologies in Sweden: Results after 20 years of high-quality data.","volume":"82","author":"A Jonsson","year":"2022","journal-title":"J. Saf. Res."},{"key":"ref50","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"165-179","DOI":"10.1016\/S0379-7112(01)00033-9","article-title":"Socioeconomic deprivation and fatal unintentional domestic fire incidents in New Zealand 1993\u20131998.","volume":"37","author":"M Duncanson","year":"2002","journal-title":"Fire Saf. J."},{"key":"ref51","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"447-454","DOI":"10.1016\/j.burns.2020.07.014","article-title":"The effect of neighborhood Area Deprivation Index on residential burn injury severity.","volume":"47","author":"L Purcell","year":"2021","journal-title":"Burns."},{"key":"ref52","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"225-234","DOI":"10.1016\/j.burns.2014.10.008","article-title":"Burn related mortality in greater Manchester: 11-year review of regional coronial department data.","volume":"41","author":"A Hussain","year":"2015","journal-title":"Burns."},{"key":"ref53","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1911-1916","DOI":"10.1056\/NEJM200106213442506","article-title":"Deaths and injuries from house fires.","volume":"344","author":"G Istre","year":"2001","journal-title":"N. Engl. J. Med."},{"key":"ref57","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6-13","DOI":"10.5864\/d2020-002","article-title":"Health impact assessment\u2014Insights from the experience of Qu\u00e9bec.","volume":"63","author":"T Diallo","year":"2020","journal-title":"Environ. Health Rev."},{"key":"ref41","article-title":"International Epidemiological Association - Ethical guidelines for epidemiological studies.","year":"2025 cited 2025 Apr 12"},{"key":"ref58","article-title":"Geographical characteristics and other factors associated with alcohol-related fatal fires in Ireland 2014 \u2013 2021.","author":"A Doyle","year":"2026, January 30"}],"container-title":["HRB Open Research"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/hrbopenresearch.org\/articles\/9-15\/v2\/xml","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/hrbopenresearch.org\/articles\/9-15\/v2\/pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/hrbopenresearch.org\/articles\/9-15\/v2\/iparadigms","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,30]],"date-time":"2026-04-30T19:49:10Z","timestamp":1777578550000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/hrbopenresearch.org\/articles\/9-15\/v2"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,16]]},"references-count":49,"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.12688\/hrbopenres.14341.2","relation":{"has-version":[{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.12688\/hrbopenres.14341.1","asserted-by":"subject"}],"has-review":[{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.21956\/hrbopenres.15900.r54719","asserted-by":"subject"},{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.21956\/hrbopenres.15900.r54719","asserted-by":"object"}]},"ISSN":["2515-4826"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2515-4826","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,16]]},"assertion":[{"value":"Indexed","URL":"https:\/\/hrbopenresearch.org\/articles\/9-15\/v2#article-reports","order":0,"name":"referee-status","label":"Referee status","group":{"name":"current-referee-status","label":"Current Referee Status"}},{"value":"10.21956\/hrbopenres.15900.r54719, James M. Clay, Keegan W. Lawrence, Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research (CISUR), University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, 27 Apr 2026, version 2, indexed","URL":"https:\/\/hrbopenresearch.org\/articles\/9-15\/v2#referee-response-54719","order":0,"name":"referee-response-54719","label":"Referee Report","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"<b>Anne Doyle<\/b>; \n<i>Posted: 28 Apr 2026<\/i>; Thank you to the reviewers for taking the time to review our manuscript \u201cGeographical characteristics and other factors associated with alcohol-related fatal fires in Ireland 2014 \u2013 2021\u201d. We appreciate the valuable feedback and suggestions, which have helped us to further improve the quality of this work. We address each of the comments in detail below: Peer reviewer(s) 1 \n<b>Presentation and literature<\/b> The manuscript is clearly written and well referenced. One minor suggestion: the abstract and discussion describe history of alcohol dependency as &quot;the only significant risk factor&quot; in the regression. Given the wide confidence intervals for other variables in Table 3, which reflect the modest sample size rather than a meaningful absence of association, it may be worth adding a brief qualifier to acknowledge that limited statistical power may have precluded detection of effects for other variables. This would help readers avoid interpreting non-significance as evidence of no association. \n<b>Response:<\/b> Thank you. We agree and have edited this text as follows: P2: \n<i>In regression analyses, history of alcohol dependency was the only significant risk factor for a fatal fire being alcohol-related <u>although this may be due to the modest sample size limiting statistical power rather than a true absence of association<\/u>.<\/i> P12: \n<i>However, it should be noted that given the wide confidence intervals reflecting the limited sample size, reduced statistical power may have constrained the detection of effects for other variables.<\/i> \n<b>Technical soundness<\/b> \n<i>Definition of alcohol-related.<\/i>&nbsp;Table 1 indicates that the alcohol-related category includes cases with BAC recorded as &quot;present\/trace (&lt;10 mg\/100 mL).&quot; It would be helpful to briefly justify this inclusive definition, as the contribution of trace alcohol to fire risk in these cases is uncertain. A short sensitivity analysis using a higher threshold (e.g. \u226550 mg\/100 mL) would reassure readers that the main findings, including the headline 41% prevalence, are robust to this definitional choice. \n<b>Response:<\/b> Thank you, this is a good point. We have re-run the regression analysis using the higher BAC level and added text as follows: P12: \n<i>Sensitivity analysis using a higher BAC threshold (\u2265 50mg\/100mL) found the findings remained significant for history of alcohol dependency even after removing the low\u2011level cases (p=0.042). <\/i> Also on p8 we added the following text: P8: \n<i>Ireland\u2019s legal drink-driving limit is 50 mg\/100mL and 84.8% of the sample exceeded or met this threshold.<\/i> P12 Discussion: \n<i>We found a strong positive association between having a history of alcohol dependency and the likelihood of a fatal fire being alcohol-related which remained significant when analysis was limited to those with a BAC above the legal drink-drive limit (50 mg\/100mL).<\/i> \n<i>Statistical independence.<\/i>&nbsp;The paper notes that some fires involved more than one fatality. It would be helpful to report the number of unique fire incidents alongside the number of individual fatalities. The authors may also wish to consider a sensitivity analysis excluding multi-fatality incidents, or at minimum acknowledge that clustering within incidents may affect the independence assumption of the regression model. \n<b>Response: <\/b>Thank you, have added the following text to the manuscript to address this valid point: \n<i>P8: During the study period, 2014\u20132021 inclusive, 273 people died <b><u>in 255 fire incidents<\/u><\/b> in Ireland that were reported to the coroner and recorded by the NDRDI.<\/i> \n<i>P12: A further sensitivity analysis a sensitivity analysis with clustered standard errors found the significant finding remained (p=0.024).<\/i>&nbsp;   \n<i>Variable selection for regression.<\/i>&nbsp; The decision to restrict the multivariable model to variables significant at p&gt;0.05 in bivariate analyses is understandable given the sample size, and the authors acknowledge this as a limitation. It may be worth noting specifically whether any variables with strong theoretical relevance (such history of mental health problems) were excluded on this basis, so readers can assess the potential impact on the findings. \n<b>Response: <\/b>Supplementary Table 1\n<b> <\/b>provides information about missing data and which variables were excluded in the regression model due to p&gt;0.05 (including history of mental health problems p=0.226). We have added the following text to the Discussion: \n<i>P13: <\/i>\n<i>We restricted the multivariable model to variables that were statistically significant at p&lt;0.05 in the bivariate analyses, due to the small sample size. It is important to note that this approach resulted in the exclusion of several variables that have strong theoretical relevance (e.g. sex and history of mental health problems).<\/i> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;  \n<b>Reproducibility<\/b> The geospatial workflow is described as mapping Eircodes &quot;using Google Maps.&quot; A brief additional description of how the nearest fire station was identified and what routing settings were used for distance and travel time would make this analysis more readily replicable by others. \n<b>Response: <\/b>Thank you. Due to the small sample size, the geospatial analysis was conducted manually and the following text and reference has been added to the manuscript: \n<i>(41)<\/i>\n<i>.For each incident, the distance (in kilometres) and estimated travel time from the nearest fire station were derived using the default settings in Google maps <\/i>\n<i>(41)<\/i>\n<i>. Calculations were based on the \u2018fastest route\u2019 setting, with the time of day standardised to daytime, outside of peak traffic hours, rather than adjusted to the actual time at which the fire occurred.<\/i>   The appendix helpfully provides &quot;not known\/not recorded&quot; categories for several variables. It would further strengthen the paper to include a short summary of missingness across key variables, and to state the analytic sample size for the each analysis explicitly. Given the extent of missingness and cell suppression across some variables, it is currently difficult to determine how many cases were included in the multivariable model. \n<b>Response: <\/b>Thank you, we have updated the Methods section to clarify as follows: \n<i>Missing data were handled using complete-case analysis. The multivariable model included 71 such cases. No imputation methods were applied.<\/i>  \n<b>Statistical interpretation<\/b> Three points on interpretation for the authors to consider. First, and most importantly, Supplementary Table 1 shows that the urban-rural distribution does not differ significantly between alcohol-related and non-alcohol-related fatal fires (\n<i>p<\/i>=0.703). This makes it difficult to sustain the claim that rural over-representation is a finding specific to alcohol involvement, and we would encourage the authors to revisit the framing of this result in both the results and discussion sections. It may be more accurate to characterise the rural pattern as a feature of fatal fires generally in Ireland, with alcohol-related fires reflecting that broader distribution rather than showing a distinct geographical signal. \n<b>Response: <\/b>Thank you, have updated the text throughout to reflect this feedback: P9:\n<i> Fatal fire incidents were more common in rural areas, and this rural pattern was also evident in alcohol-related fires.<\/i>\n<i> <\/i>\n<i>According to the Irish Census, an average of 36.9% of the population resided in rural areas during the study period yet rural areas accounted for 47.3% of all alcohol-related fatal fires <\/i>\n<i>(44,45)<\/i>\n<i>. Urban areas accounted for 63.1% of the population and 52.7% of alcohol-related fatal fires (<\/i>\n<i>Figure 1<\/i>\n<i> and Supplementary Table 3). However, this association was not statistically significant (p=0.703).<\/i>p13: \n<i>Our study also reflected this rural pattern, although the higher representation of rural cases was not statistically significant<\/i>  Second, the finding that no alcohol-related fatal fires occurred in affluent areas is noteworthy, but should be interpreted cautiously. With relatively few cases overall and cell suppression limiting what can be observed in Supplementary Table 3, it is difficult to determine whether the apparent zero in affluent areas reflects a genuine absence of alcohol-related fire risk in those populations, or simply the general scarcity of fatal fires in more affluent areas; which may itself reflect factors such as housing quality or fire safety equipment rather than anything specific to alcohol. A brief note acknowledging these interpretive constraints would be a helpful addition for readers.  Third, Figure 1 shows that 48.7% of all fatal fires occurred in rural areas, which is very similar to the 47.3% figure for alcohol-related fires specifically, consistent with the non-significant bivariate result noted above. \n<b>Response:<\/b> Thank you, very good observation (second and third above). Have added text as follows: P15: \n<i>The absence of alcohol\u2011related fatal fires in affluent areas should be interpreted with caution. It is not clear from the available data which suppressed cell counts less than five, whether this reflects a true lack of such incidents in more affluent communities, or whether it is simply a consequence of the overall rarity of fatal fires in these areas. This lower incidence may itself stem from factors such as better housing quality or greater availability of fire\u2011safety equipment, rather than any factor specifically related to alcohol.<\/i>  \n<b>Minor points<\/b> The paper would benefit from a brief comment on whether the COVID-19 years (2020\u20132021) show any distinct pattern, given the well-documented shifts in drinking behaviour and home time during that period that the authors themselves reference in the introduction. Overall, this paper meaningfully contributes to understanding alcohol involvement in fatal fires in Ireland and is valuable for harm prevention planning. Some minor clarifications and sensitivity checks would enhance the transparency of the methods, strengthen confidence in the findings, and improve interpretability for policy and practice audiences. \n<b>Response: <\/b>We agree that\n<b> <\/b>it would be interesting to examine the COVID period\n<b> <\/b>in greater detail, but the dataset is too small, especially if restricted to 2020 and 2021. We are currently working on a wider piece examining all alcohol-related deaths, not just fire-related, and that work may add to our understanding of the impact of COVID and deaths in the home.","URL":"https:\/\/hrbopenresearch.org\/articles\/9-15\/v2#referee-comment-3914","order":1,"name":"referee-comment-3914","label":"Referee Comment","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"10.21956\/hrbopenres.15793.r53656, Michael Ronan Lucey, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, 19 Mar 2026, version 1, 1 approved, 1 approved with reservations","URL":"https:\/\/hrbopenresearch.org\/articles\/9-15\/v1#referee-response-53656","order":2,"name":"referee-response-53656","label":"Referee Report","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"<b>Anne Doyle<\/b>; \n<i>Posted: 28 Apr 2026<\/i>; Thank you to the reviewers for taking the time to review our manuscript \u201cGeographical characteristics and other factors associated with alcohol-related fatal fires in Ireland 2014 \u2013 2021\u201d. We appreciate the valuable feedback and suggestions, which have helped us to further improve the quality of this work. We address each of the comments in detail below: Peer reviewer 2 My only suggestion to the authors would be to include a comment on the non-fatal outcome of many fires. Extrapolating from their data, it would be interesting to capture the morbidity associated with domestic fires in Ireland in the same period. &nbsp;I would hypothesize that alcohol consumption was also associated in fires which resulted in at least one involved person required admission to hospital. &nbsp;Such an expansion of the dataset would provide further context about the social and personal toll of drinking in relation to domestic fires. \n<b>Response: <\/b>Thank you for this feedback. We agree this is important information to understand\n<b> <\/b>morbidity however, this data is not publicly available. We requested data from HIPE, the Irish Hospital In-Patient Enquiry scheme which collects information on all hospitalisations in acute public hospitals, on all alcohol-related hospitalisations that included a diagnosis if burns\/fire injuries. This gives a proxy of alcohol-related fire morbidity and have added the following text to the manuscript: \n<i>P4: An analysis of alcohol-related hospitalisations that also involved with fire\/burn injuries found an average of 927 of such cases annually <\/i>\n<i>(17)<\/i>\n<i>. <\/i> \n<i>P8: According to hospitalisation data, these deaths represent 3.9% of all admissions associated with alcohol\u2011related burn or fire injuries during the study period, indicating that such cases are comparatively rare <\/i>\n<i>(17)<\/i>\n<i>.<\/i>","URL":"https:\/\/hrbopenresearch.org\/articles\/9-15\/v2#referee-comment-3915","order":3,"name":"referee-comment-3915","label":"Referee Comment","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"The author(s) declared that no grants were involved in supporting this work","order":4,"name":"grant-information","label":"Grant Information"},{"value":"This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.","order":0,"name":"copyright-info","label":"Copyright"}]}}