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Fire Deaths Have Surged This Year

Last updated on Sunday, June 9, 2013

(INDIANAPOLIS) - Indiana’s fire deaths have surged to 54 so far this year, giving the state more fire fatalities in just over five months than all of last year.

State Fire Marshal Jim Greeson said that Indiana's 54 fire deaths with more than half of 2013 still on the calendar compares with the 46 deaths during all of 2012. He says the trend is puzzling because there's no common thread that can explain the increase in deadly home fires.

Greeson says many of the deaths occurred during the winter and some were sparked by alternative heating sources such as wood-burning stoves.

While the causes of this year's fires are wide-ranging, he says more than half of the homes where people died lacked working smoke alarms.

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