Fire departments in the United States responded to an estimated 1.6 million fires during 2006. These fires caused 3,245 civilian deaths and 16,400 injuries, according to a recently released National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) report. The number of fires increased slightly by about 3% from 2005 to 2006 while fire deaths fell 12% and fire injuries were down by 8%.
The total number of people that died from fires in 2006 (excluding firefighters) was the lowest since NFPA began collecting this data in 1977, and 4% lower than the previous low of 3,380 in 2002. The number of fire death varies from year to year, with most of the variation in fire deaths occurring in communities with populations under 10,000.
NFPA’s study, Fire Loss in the United States During 2006 offers a detailed account of fire loss for the previous year and an analysis over time based on new information.
In 2006, the annual snapshot of fire loss in the United States showed that every 19 seconds a fire department responded to a fire somewhere in the U.S. Someone died every two hours and 42 minutes from a fire and someone was injured every 32 minutes. A fire occurred in a structure every minute, in a residence every minute and 16 seconds, and in a vehicle nearly every 2 minutes.
Direct property loss from fires in 2006 was roughly $11 billion, an increase of 6% from 2005. Nearly $7 billion of these losses resulted from fires in residential dwellings.
As in previous years, most fire deaths occurred in homes; home fires accounted for about 80% of all fire deaths. Eighty percent of all structure fires also occurred in the homes. One and two-family dwellings accounted for 58% of the structure fires and apartments accounted for 17%. In 2006, 2,580 people died from home fires, a decease of 15% from the prior year.
Although vehicle fires declined 4% from the previous year, they remained second to structures as the second leading cause of fire deaths in the United States in 2006. There were 278,000 vehicle fires that resulted in 490 deaths, 1,200 injuries, and $1.3 billion in property damage.
It is important to act to prevent fire and put protections in place, should fire occur, to reduce the deaths, injuries and destruction caused by fires each year. A focus on home fire prevention and safety is especially important in reducing this toll as home fires are traditionally responsible for the bulk of the losses suffered from fire.
NFPA’s Web site www.nfpa.org offers comprehensive fire prevention and safety information.
NFPA has been a worldwide leader in providing fire, electrical, building, and life safety to the public since 1896. The mission of the international nonprofit organization is to reduce the worldwide burden of fire and other hazards on the quality of life by providing and advocating consensus codes and standards, research, training and education.
