A national system for evaluating fire risks will go into effect on Jan. 1, according to the Ministry of Public Security fire department.

The system will take into account safety risk elements in various types of building and public venues, especially in densely populated areas, China Youth Daily reported on Friday.

Up until now, different regions have applied different standards but there has been no nationwide system.

According to statistics from the Ministry's fire department, there were more than 189,000 fires in China in the first 10 months of the year, leaving 1,238 people dead and 1,204 injured.

While the death toll was down by 35.5 percent on the same period last year and the number of injured dropped 39.3 percent, the number of fires rose by one percent.

(Xinhua News Agency December 23, 2006)