Fire Risk in 2022
Topical Fire Report Series | November 2024 | Volume 22, Issue 6
The risk of death or injury from fire is not the same for everyone. This topical fire report explores fire risk for people living in the United States and why for some groups of people, fire risk is more severe.
At a Glance
Risk by age:
Adults ages 55 or older
had a greater relative risk of fire death than the general population.
Adults ages 85 or older
had the highest relative risk of fire death.
Children ages
4 and younger
had a relative risk of fire death that was 50% less than that of the general population. This did not change from 2019 to 2021 and is the lowest relative risk for this age group since the mid-1970s.
Adults ages 25 to 74 and 80 to 84
had a greater relative risk of fire injury than the general population.
Risk by region:
People living in the Midwest and South
had the greatest relative risk of dying in a fire when compared to populations living in other regions of the United States.
Risk by sex:
Males
were 1.6 times more likely to die in fires than females.
Risk by race:
African Americans and American Indians/ Alaska Natives
were at a greater relative risk of dying in a fire than the general population.
These topical reports are designed to explore facets of the U.S. fire problem as depicted through data collected in the U.S. Fire Administration’s National Fire Incident Reporting System. Each topical report briefly addresses the nature of the specific fire or fire-related topic, highlights important findings from the data, and may suggest other resources to consider for further information.