Skip to main content

Official websites use .gov

A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS

A lock () or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Residential Building Fire Death Causes (2015-2024)

  • Share on:

National estimates

The 2024 national estimates for the leading causes of residential building fire deaths show that there were:

  • 565 cause-under-investigation fire deaths.
  • 550 other unintentional, careless fire deaths.
  • 335 smoking fire deaths.
  • 285 intentional fire deaths.
  • 255 electrical malfunction fire deaths.

Overall trends

Overall trends in the leading fire death causes for the 10-year period of 2015 to 2024 show the following:

  • 38% increase in residential other unintentionally or carelessly set fire deaths.
    • Other unintentional, careless was the leading cause of residential fire deaths in 8 years out of the 10-year period.
    • From 2018 to 2024, there were multiple reported multifatality fire incidents that may have contributed to the increase in the estimates of fire deaths.
  • 66% increase in residential cause-under-investigation fire deaths.
    • Cause under investigation was the leading or second leading cause of residential fire deaths 8 years out of the 10-year period.
    • From 2019 to 2024, there were multiple reported multifatality fire incidents that may have contributed to the increase in the estimates of fire deaths.
  • 17% decrease in residential smoking fire deaths.
  • 7% decrease in residential intentional fire deaths.
  • 7% decrease in residential electrical malfunction fire deaths.
*Estimated trends in time-series data may be skewed by high-impact outlier events that inflate cumulative variance, and the magnitude of these trends may appear artificially amplified or minimized due to the scaling of the graphic.

Leading causes of residential building fire deaths (2015-2024)

Leading causes of residential building fire deaths (2015-2024)
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Other unintentional, careless 440 480 435 545 585 500 575 665 625 550
Cause under investigation 365 405 355 375 470 505 470 555 560 565
Smoking 320 375 300 390 320 330 275 295 255 335
Intentional 290 260 370 255 265 185 275 265 290 285
Electrical malfunction 290 310 200 255 225 200 295 185 305 255