Fire Safety at Home Stats & Facts

FACTS 

1. Most house fires start in the kitchen. Cooking is the leading cause of home fire injuries. Cooking fires often start from overheated grease and unattended cooking. Electric stoves are involved in more fires than gas stoves.
2. Smoking is the primary cause of fatal fires in the U.S. The second most common cause of fatal fires is heating equipment.
3. Arson is the third most common cause of home fires.
4. More people die from smoke inhalation than flames. Fire can suck all of the oxygen from a room and replace it with poisonous smoke and gases before flames even reach a room. Many times, people die from lack of oxygen before the fire reaches their room.
5. Each year, Fire kills more Americans than all-natural disasters combined.
6. Approximately two-thirds of all fire deaths happen in homes where there is no working fire alarm.

STATS

• Every year more than 5,000 people die in fires, over 25,000 are injured, and direct property loss is estimated at over $9 billion.
• The U.S. has one of the highest fire death rates in the industrialized world. For 1998, the U.S. fire death rate was 14.9 deaths per million populations.
• About 100 firefighters are killed each year in duty-related incidents.
• Fire is the third leading cause of accidental death in the home; at least 80 percent of all fire deaths occur in residences most claiming lives of the young, elderly and disadvantaged.
• About 2 million fires are reported each year. Many others go unreported, causing additional injuries and property loss.
• Property loss due to fires is estimated at $8.6 billion annually.