Report: NFPA's Non-Home Electrical Fires
Author: Richard Campbell
Issued: June 2019
Report highlights
Local fire departments responded to an estimated average of 16,930 non-confined fires involving
electrical distribution and lighting equipment in occupancies other than homes in 2012-2016.
- These fires caused an estimated average of 22 civilian deaths and 210 civilian injuries each year, as well as $718 million each year in direct property damage.
- Wiring and related equipment was the most common type of equipment involved in the non-home electrical distribution and lighting equipment fires and losses
Electrical failures or malfunctions contributed to an estimated annual average of 16,540 non-home fires in the U.S. in 2012-2016.
- Non-home fires involving an electrical failure or malfunction caused an estimated average of 23 civilian deaths and 200 civilian injuries each year in 2012-2016, as well as an estimated $637 million in direct property damage a year.
- Non-home residential properties accounted for 18% of fires, but 82% of deaths in non-home fires involving electrical failure or malfunction, consistent with the general status of residential properties as the property type with the greatest share of fire deaths.
