YANGON, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Fire outbreaks killed 79 people and injured 226 others nationwide in Myanmar in 2019, official media quoted a fire service department official as saying on Friday.

From January to December last year, there were 2,155 fire outbreak cases reported in the country's states and regions, destroying 2,987 houses, 24 factories and 52 warehouses with a loss of over 3 billion kyats (over 2 million U.S. dollars).

Last year's fire outbreaks forced 6,359 people homeless, the official said.

During the period, fire outbreaks were mostly caused by negligence fires with 734 cases, followed by 599 electrical fires and 388 stove fires, respectively.

People are urged to take fire safety precautions in order to perform control initiatives.