Population and Building Factors That Impact Residential Fire Rates in

.................................................................................................................. 2 Chapter One: Introduction ................................................................................... 6 Residential Fire and Fire Causes in the U.S ................................... 6 Overview of Residential Fire in the U.S ...............................................6 Residential Fire Causes ........................................................................8 Role of Engineering in Fire Prevention ......................................... 11 Ecological Perspective ..................................................................... 12 Research Purpose ............................................................................ 12 Chapter Two: Literature Review ........................................................................ 14 Chapter Purpose .............................................................................. 14 Empirical Studies ............................................................................ 14 Jennings’ Fire Ignition and Fire Loss Model ................................ 27 Conceptual Framework .................................................................. 29 Natural Environment ..........................................................................30 Population Characteristics .................................................................31 Building Characteristics .....................................................................36 Chapter Summary ........................................................................... 40 Chapter Three: Methodology .............................................................................. 41 Chapter Purpose .............................................................................. 41 Method of Data Collection .............................................................. 43 Dependent Variable ......................................................................... 44 Independent Variables .................................................................... 44 Natural Environment ..........................................................................44 Population Characteristics .................................................................45 Building Characteristics .....................................................................46 Sample Population ........................................................................... 46 Statistics Analysis ............................................................................ 52 Correlation Test .................................................................................52 Multiple Regression Analysis .............................................................53 Chapter Summary ........................................................................... 53