Single, older farmers with alcohol in their system made up to a fifth of fire-related deaths in Ireland.

A report profiling fire fatalities between 2014 and 2016 showed farmers and agricultural workers were the worst-affected group, representing 14 of the 101 fatalities.

“All but one of the farmers/agricultural workers lived in a rural setting, nine (64%) were 65 years or over, 12 (86%) were single or divorced and 11 (79%) were alone at the time of the fire,” the report said.

People in rural areas were less likely to have a fire alarm and the report suggested that those areas should be targeted for fire prevention strategies.

Over half of all fatalities were found to have alcohol in their system, with older men being more likely than women to have consumed a high level of alcohol.

“Farmers and agricultural workers were more likely to be alone at the time of the fire, were 65 years or older and a high number had consumed alcohol prior to their death. These factors individually are of concern but in combination make this group of people particularly vulnerable,” the report found.

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Alcohol and alone: farmers more likely to die in fire

A report has shown that a high proportion of farmers who died as a result of a fire were alone and had alcohol in their system.