US fire problem

Every 23 seconds, a fire department in the United States responds to a fire somewhere in the nation. Although the number of fires and fire deaths have decreased significantly since the 1970’s, some statistics are more troubling. We continue to analyze fire data to better understand the fire problem and its trends.

Latest report

Catastrophic Multiple-Death Fires in 2021

This report contains overall statistics from NFPA's annual study of catastrophic multiple-death fires, defined as fires or explosions in homes or apartments that result in five or more fire-related deaths, or fires or explosions in all other structures and outside of structures, such as wildfires and vehicle fires that claim three or more lives. The data for this study is obtained by the NFPA from fire department official reports as well as information from the state fire marshal’s office, and official government agency documentation.

Read the report

Overall US fire numbers

• Economic Impact of Fire: Cost and Impact of Fire Protection in Buildings (2022)
• Fire Loss in the United States (2022)
• Catastrophic Multiple-Death Fires (2022)
• Large-Loss Fires in the United States (2021)
• Fire Safety in the US Since 1980 (2021)
• Fires by Occupancy or Property Type (2021)
• US Fire Death Rates by State (2021)
• The Total Cost of Fire in the United States (2017)
• Trends and Patterns of U.S. Fire Losses (2017)

Report

Home Heating Fires

Heating equipment is a leading cause of fires in U.S. homes. These homes included one- and two-family homes (including manufactured homes) and apartments (including townhouses and other multi-family dwellings).

Download the report.

US fire causes

• Home Heating Fires (2022)
• Intentional Fires (2021)
• Structure Fires Started by Hot Work (2021)
• Playing With Fire: Structure Fires (2021)
• Playing With Fire: Non-Structure Fires (2021)
• Home Cooking Fires (2020)
• Home Candle Fires (2020)
• Christmas Tree Fires (2020)
• Fireworks Fires and Injuries (2020)
• Home Grill Fires (2020)
• Electrical Fires (2019)
• Non-Home Electrical Fires (2019)
• The Smoking Material Fire Problem (2019)
• Home Fires That Began With Upholstered Furniture (2017)
• Home Fires Involving Clothes Dryers and Washing Machines (2017)
• Analytical Modeling of Pan and Oil Heating on an Electric Coil Cooktop (2014)
• Development of Standardized Cooking Fires for Evaluation of Prevention Technologies: Data Analysis (2014)
• Lightning Fires and Lightning Strikes (2013)

Featured report

The Invisible Fire Problem

The report shows that the understanding of fire risk faced by vulnerably sheltered persons is a product of the probability of a credible fire event occurring and the measure of the possibility of death or injury to an occupant resulting from that event.

Download the report

Victims of fire risk

• The Invisible Fire Problem (2022)
• Physical Disability as a Factor in Home Fire Deaths (2022)
• Home Fire Victims by Age and Gender (2021)
• Review of Impact of Medications on Older Adult Fall and Fire Risk (2021)
• Poverty and the Risk of Fire (2021)
  

Vehicle fires

• Fire Damage and Loss Assessment of Recreational Vehicles (RVs) (2020)
• Vehicle Fires (2020)

The environment

• Environmental Impact of Fires in the Built Environment: Emission Factors (2022)
• Research Roadmap: Environmental Impact of Fires in the Built Environment (2020)

Contact us at with any questions.