Fire Fatality Statistics
Approximately 8621 civilians died in 1978 as a result of fires in the United States, according to estimates released by the National Fire Protection Association. Most of the deaths, 6768 or 78.5 percent, occurred in residential dwellings.
In addition, 1181 deaths or 13.7 percent occurred in highway vehicles, trains, boats, ships, aircraft, farm vehicles and construction vehicles.
There were 162 line-of-duty fire fighter deaths in addition to the civilian deaths.
NFPA statistics for non-fatal fire injuries in 1978 totaled 138,920. Approximately 32,023 of these injuries were to civilians and 106,897 to fire fighters.
NFPA further estimates that over 4 million fires occurred nationwide in 1978 with a resultant property loss of almost $4.5 billion. Most of the damage, over $4 million, occurred in 1,130,227 structural fires. Of these structural fires, 757,525 occcurred in residential dwellings, resulting in a property loss of over $2.1 billion.
