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For each year from 2012 to 2014, an estimated 5,700 medical facility fires were reported to fire departments in the United States. Nearly a fifth of those (1,100 fires) were in hospitals. It is estimated that these fires caused fewer than five deaths, 25 injuries and $5 million in property loss per year. 1
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The average number of fatalities per 1,000 hospital fires was lower than the same measure for all other medical facility fires. In addition, the number of injuries was also lower than that of other medical facilities. 2
| Loss measure | Hospital fires | All other medical facility fires |
|---|---|---|
Fatalities/1,000 fires | 0.4 | 0.6 |
Injuries/1,000 fires | 17.3 | 19.6 |
Dollar loss/fire | $6,030 | $11,290 |
The majority of hospital fires were fires that were confined to cooking pots (60 percent). Confined fires are smaller fires that rarely result in death, serious injury or large content losses. 3 Fires in trash bins, incinerators or compactors composed 10 percent of hospital fires, while 3 percent were fuel burner or chimney fires.
Nonconfined fires, generally larger structure fires, made up 27 percent of hospital fires. Source: NFIRS 5.0.
Hospital fires occurred most frequently from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., accounting for 60 percent of the fires. The fires peaked between the hour of noon and 1 p.m. This period of high fire incidence coincides with lunchtime meal preparations, as cooking is the leading cause of hospital fires. Source: NFIRS 5.0.
Note: Total percentages do not add up to 100 percent due to rounding.
The leading causes of all hospital fires were:
Source: NFIRS 5.0.
Note: Percentages are adjusted for those fires with unknown values of cause. Ten percent of hospital fires had unknown values of cause.
While cooking was the leading reported cause of hospital fires overall, it only accounted for 6 percent of all nonconfined hospital fires. Nonconfined fires are larger, more serious fires.
The leading causes of nonconfined hospital fires were:
Eighty-four percent of all hospital fires were limited to the object of origin. Only 3 percent extended beyond the room of origin. Source: NFIRS 5.0.
83.7% Limited to object of origin
13.1% Limited to room of origin
1.7% Limited to floor of origin
1.4% Limited to building of origin
0.0% Beyond building of origin
Note: Total percentages do not add up to 100 percent due to rounding.
For more information on hospitals, including patient experience and quality of care data, please visit: Medicare.gov.
Sources: NFIRS 5.0 and the National Fire Protection Association.
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