KEY POINTS:
Just 13 people died in avoidable house fires in New Zealand last year as the country's fire death rate fell to one of the lowest in the world.
Fire Services Commission chairwoman Dame Margaret Bazley told Parliament's government administration committee today the rate for the 2005-06 year was 0.32 deaths per 100,000 of population.
"This rate puts us in the best two or three countries worldwide for fire deaths."
The figures were for avoidable residential fire deaths -- not including suicides or homicides -- and showed a fall of 68 per cent since 1996-97.
In 2003-04 23 people died -- a rate of 0.57 per 100,000.
The commission's target was under 0.50 per 100,000.
Dame Margaret said the commission believed public education, advertising, firefighter training and partnership programmes with government and community organisations were behind the decline in the death rate.
She said the current year was likely to end with a similar result to 2005-06.
- NZPA
