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Residential Building Heating Fire Trends (2011‑2020)

National estimates

The 2020 national estimates for residential building heating fires and losses show that there were:

33,000 fires.
125 deaths.
575 injuries.
$378,600,000 in dollar loss.

Overall trends

Overall trends for residential building heating fires and losses for the 10-year period of 2011 to 2020 show the following:

A 34% decrease in fires.
A 22% decrease in deaths.
In 2014, there were 11 reported multifatality heating fires that contributed to the spike in fire deaths.
A 17% decrease in injuries.
A 24% decrease in dollar loss.
This overall constant dollar-loss trend takes inflation into account by adjusting each year's dollar loss to its equivalent 2020 value.

Fires, deaths, injuries and dollar loss

Residential building heating fires

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	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Fires	43700	45200	49000	47600	41200	35100	33800	35700	33100	33000

Residential building heating fire deaths

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	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Deaths	130	195	200	245	165	165	195	155	145	125

Residential building heating fire injuries

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	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Injuries	550	775	725	850	575	500	575	575	675	575

Residential building heating fire dollar loss

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Year	Dollar loss
2011	326000000
2012	474700000
2013	570200000
2014	660600000
2015	428400000
2016	373000000
2017	337500000
2018	422900000
2019	355400000
2020	378600000

Fire estimate summaries present basic data on the size and status of the fire problem in the U.S. as depicted through data reported to the U.S. Fire Administration's (USFA's) National Fire Incident Reporting System from incidents reported by local response agencies. Each Fire Estimate Summary addresses the size of the specific fire or fire-related issue and highlights important trends in the data.

Fire estimate summaries are based on the USFA's “National Estimates Methodology for Building Fires and Losses.”. The USFA is committed to providing the best and most current information on the U.S. fire problem and continually examines data received from participating fire departments and the analytical methods used to fulfill this goal. Because of this commitment, data collection strategies and methodological changes are possible and do occur. Previous estimates on specific issues (or similar issues) may have used different methodologies or data definitions and, therefore, may not be directly comparable to current estimates.