Bivariate analyses
| Variable | Type of household | Respondents | Statistics | |
| Fire | Non-fire | |||
| Type of housing (%) | ||||
| Detached single-family home | 65.1 | 71.1 | 3013 | F=5.4795; p=0.0193 |
| Other home types | 34.9 | 29.1 | ||
| Type of ownership (%) | ||||
| Own | 65.8 | 77.5 | 3010 | F=19.6608; p<0.0001 |
| Rent | 34.2 | 22.5 | ||
| Mean house age (years) | 27.5 | 27.7 | 2940 | t=0.17; p=0.8617 |
| Mean number in household | ||||
| All ages | 3.27 | 2.83 | 2957 | t=5.70; p<0.0001 |
| Under 18 | 1.13 | 0.74 | t=5.83; p<0.0001 | |
| Under 5 | 0.49 | 0.27 | t=5.11; p<0.0001 | |
| 18–64 | 2.05 | 1.82 | t=4.76; p<0.0001 | |
| 65+ | 0.08 | 0.28 | t=8.31; p<0.0001 | |
| Household income (%) | 2565 | F=2.2612; p=0.1043 | ||
| $34 999 or lower | 36.1 | 30.8 | ||
| $35 000–$74 999 | 31.9 | 36.6 | ||
| $75 000 or more | 32.0 | 32.6 | ||
| Household head education (%) | 2967 | F=5.2935; p=0.0012 | ||
| High school grad or less | 24.7 | 34.1 | ||
| Some college | 18.2 | 18.4 | ||
| College graduate | 36.9 | 31.9 | ||
| Postgraduate | 20.1 | 15.6 | ||
| Mean number of smokers in the household (people) | 0.52 | 0.42 | 3029 | t=1.89; p=0.0586 |
| Ethnicity (%) | ||||
| Hispanic/Latino versus non-Hispanic | 11.5 | 9.4 | 2948 | F=1.5168; p=0.2182 |
| Race (%) | ||||
| Caucasian versus Non-Caucasian | 79.7 | 83.0 | 2879 | F=2.4880; p=0.1148 |
All tests are two-tailed tests. See text for methods. The survey asked about income in four categories: <$15 000, $15 000–$34 999, $35 000–$74 999; and $75 000 and over. Table 2 collapsed the lowest two categories. The results also were not statistically significant when applied to the original categories. Race variables in the survey questionnaire included Caucasian, Black or African–American, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, American Indian, Alaskan Native or other (specify). Sample sizes were too small for a more detailed racial breakdown in the bivariate analysis. Other housing types included mobile or manufactured home, townhouse or row house, two-family dwelling, apartment building, condo and other. These were also grouped together because of the small number of responses in some housing categories.