A total of 18 people died in fires last year, of which 10 were children.

The National Fire Authority attended to 150 property fires, 132 were house fires, 17 commercial fires and one industrial fire incident.

The NFA says 46 property fires were electrical related while 18 were due to unattended cooking and 10 were due to children playing with matches.

When comparing last year’s statistics with the past three years, there were a total of 147 property fires in 2016, 127 in 2015 and 143 in 2014.

The NFA is calling on the public to help reduce property fires and make communities a fire safe place to live in, adding that people should follow fire safety measures at all times.