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Statistics

Data sets and statistics about fires, fire risk, firefighters and fire departments in the United States.

Main content

Firefighter fatalities in 2024

 

Home fire fatalities in 2024

 

The risk of death or injury from fire is not the same for everyone. For some groups of people, fire risk is more severe.

Men are more likely to die and be injured in fires.

GendersDeathsInjuries
Male63.8%61.4%
Female36.2%38.6%

National fire death rate: 13.0
National fire injury rate: 44.3

per million population (2021)

Our latest reports

Fatal Fires in Residential Buildings (2018-2020)

This topical report addresses the characteristics of fatal fires in residential buildings as reported to the National Fire Incident Reporting System. Fatal fires in residential buildings most often started in bedrooms (27%).

Fire Department Overall Run Profile as Reported to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (2020)

Fire departments provide invaluable services to communities nationwide. To understand the full role they play in a community, this topical report profiles fire department run activity as reflected in the 2020 NFIRS data.

Recreational Vehicle (RV) Fires (2018-2020)

This data snapshot provides statistics on RV fire loss, time of alarm, fires by day and month, fire cause, and leading areas of fire origin.

Portable Heater Fires in Residential Buildings (2017-2019)

While portable heater fires in residential buildings were only 3% of all heating fires in residential buildings, their consequences were substantial, accounting for 41% of fatal heating fires in residential buildings. Many of these fires were preventable, as human error was a contributing factor to the fire.

Fire Estimate Summary Series

Residential building fire causes

Cooking was the leading cause of home fires in 2021.

48.1%
Cooking
9.1%
Heating
8.4%
Unintentional, careless
6.9%
Electrical malfunction

Get statistics on residential building fires

U.S. fire department responses (2021)

Emergency medical services (EMS) calls are by far the leading incident type that U.S. fire departments respond to.

See how your state compares
Source: National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) 5.0
EMS65.4
Good intent11.5
False alarms7.8
Service calls7.7
Fires3.7
All other3.9

Fires, deaths, injuries and dollar loss

Fires (2012-2021)

2012201320142015201620172018201920202021
Fires1375000124000012980001345500134200013195001318500129150013885001353500

Fire deaths (2012-2021)

2012201320142015201620172018201920202021
Deaths2855324032753280339034003655370435003800

Fire injuries (2012-2021)

2012201320142015201620172018201920202021
Injuries16500159251577515700146501467015200166001520014700

Fire dollar loss (2012-2021)

(Adjusted to 2021 $)
YearDollar loss
201214666516503
201313405603824
201413283179787
201516346207487
201615355647835
201725425546671
201827625004480
201915707668478
202022893269683
202115957000000
2012201320142015201620172018201920202021
Dollar loss14.713.413.316.315.425.427.615.722.916.0

Excludes large $ loss fires (2012-2021)

(Adjusted to 2021 $)
YearDollar loss
201213996863211
201312916488300
201413283179787
201514116867398
201614327120876
201714370961162
201814244142935
201915707668478
202015355012036
202115279000000
2012201320142015201620172018201920202021
Dollar loss14.012.913.314.114.314.414.215.715.415.3

Trends

Fires1,353,500
in 2021
+3.0%
from 2012
Deaths3,800
in 2021
+24.4%
from 2012
Injuries14,700
in 2021
-6.4%
from 2012
$ Loss*$16.0 billion
in 2021
+50.7%
from 2012
No Large $$15.3 billion
in 2021
+17.0%
from 2012

Source: National Fire Protection Association

  • 2012: The direct dollar loss includes the Waldo Canyon Fire and the High Park Fire in Colorado, accounting for a total of $567,400,000 in damage.
  • 2013: The direct dollar loss includes the Black Forest Fire in Colorado, which totaled $420,500,000 in damage.
  • 2015: The direct dollar loss includes the Valley and Butte Wildfires in California with an estimated property loss of $1,950,000,000.
  • 2016: The direct dollar loss includes the Gatlinburg, Tennessee, wildfires with an estimated property loss of $911,000,000.
  • 2017: The direct dollar loss includes a $10,000,000,000 loss for Northern California wildfires.
  • 2018: The direct dollar loss includes $12,400,000,000 in losses from California wildfires.
  • 2020: The direct dollar loss includes $4,200,000,000 losses in California wildland urban interface (WUI) fires and a $3 billion naval ship fire in California.
  • 2021: The direct dollar loss includes $678,000,000 losses in California WUI fires.
Fire Estimate Summary Series

Nonresidential building fire causes

Intentional was the second leading cause of nonresidential building fires in 2021.

26.7%
Cooking
15.2%
Intentional
12.1%
Unintentional, careless
6.2%
Electrical malfunction

Get statistics on nonresidential building fires

General property use (2021)

Residential is the leading property use for fire deaths (70.9%), fire injuries (74.1%) and fire dollar loss (47.3%).

Fires by general property use

45.7%
Outside
25.4%
Residential structure
14.6%
Vehicles
9.5%
Nonresidential structure
4.9%
Other

Source: National Fire Incident Reporting System

fire departments are listed in the National Fire Department Registry.

Volunteer
Mostly volunteer
Career
Mostly career

Volunteer

Mostly volunteer

Career

Mostly career