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Residential Building Cause-Under-Investigation Fire Trends (2014-2023)

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National estimates

The 2023 national estimates for residential building cause-under-investigation fires and losses show that there were:

4,400 fires.
560 deaths.
525 injuries.
$622,300,000 in dollar loss.

Overall trends

Overall trends for residential building cause-under-investigation fires and losses for the 10-year period of 2014 to 2023 show the following:

A 1% decrease in fires.
A 78% increase in deaths.
In 2019, there were 10 reported multifatality fire incidents, 18 in 2020, 11 in 2021, 19 in 2022 and 11 in 2023. These multifatality fire incidents may have contributed to the increase in the estimates of fire deaths.
A 35% increase in injuries.
In 2020, 36 reported multiple injury fire incidents may have contributed to the increase in the estimate of fire injuries.
A 42% increase in dollar loss^*.
The 2022 high-dollar-loss fires included a reported $55,000,000 apartment building fire in Salt Lake City, Utah.

^*This overall constant dollar-loss trend takes inflation into account by adjusting each year's dollar loss to its equivalent 2023 value.

Fires, deaths, injuries and dollar loss

Residential building cause-under-investigation fires (2014-2023)

	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Fires	4500	4800	5200	5000	5000	4700	4400	5200	5100	4400

Residential building cause-under-investigation fire deaths (2014-2023)

	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Deaths	305	365	405	355	375	470	505	470	555	560

Residential building cause-under-investigation fire injuries (2014-2023)

	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Injuries	375	475	500	500	550	550	650	575	575	525

Residential building cause-under-investigation fire dollar loss (2014-2023)

Year	Dollar loss
2014	463200000
2015	504700000
2016	561800000
2017	570100000
2018	582600000
2019	535900000
2020	503600000
2021	597500000
2022	832800000
2023	622300000

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 PDF. 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.