NFPA releases 1994 statistics
Fire deaths in 1994 were down to 4,275, 7.8 percent lower than the previous year, according to the National Fire Protection Association annual survey. Among findings reported in the 1994 NFPA Survey were the following:
About 80 percent of all fire deaths occurred in the home (3,425, a 7.9 percent decline from 1993).
The fire death toll (40) in residential properties other than homes (such as hotels and motels, dormitories, rooming or boarding homes) dropped by 61.9 percent.
Civilian fire deaths in nonresidential structures (stores, offices, industrial plants, commercial properties, schools, health care facilities, for example) were 125, a decline of 19.4 percent from 1993.
Deaths in vehicle fires increased 5.9 percent, to 630; most involved automobiles.
Deaths involving arson or suspected arson structure fires decreased slightly (550). Property damage fell by more than one-third, to nearly $1.5 billion. The NFPA explains that this level is more typical of the past decade than the past two years, which were greatly affected by losses in a few major incidents, including the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
U.S. fire departments responded to 2,054,500 fires in 1994, an increase of 5.2 percent from 1993. Reported property damage totaled $8.151 billion, a 4.6 percent decrease from 1993 even before accounting for inflation. Reflected in the lower total is the absence of a large-scale fire such as the 1993 Laguna Forest Fire in Orange County, California, or the 1992 civil disturbance fires in Los Angeles, each of which caused more than half a billion dollars in damage.
Civilian injuries reported to fire departments dropped to 27,250, a 10.6 percent decline.
Dr. John R. Hall, Jr., NFPA assistant vice president for fire analysis and research, noted that fire deaths have declined an impressive 42.2 percent since the association`s first study in 1977; the 40 fire deaths in residential properties other than homes and the 125 civilian fire deaths in nonresidential structures were the lowest ever recorded in those categories.
For more information, contact Julie Reynolds, NFPA, at (617) 984-7274.
