Fire Prevention Statistics
According to the U.S. Fire Administration, the United States has been building fire prevention and awareness over the past decade to a point where the number of fires, deaths from fires, injuries from fires, and the dollars lost due to fires has been decreasing at rates up to 20% from 2006.
Trends across America leading to a more fire preventative culture |
|
2015 |
2006 |
Trend |
Number of Fires |
1,345,500 |
1,602,491 |
19.1% |
↓ |
Deaths resulting from Fires |
3,280 |
3,378 |
3.0% |
↓ |
Injuries resulting from Fires |
15,700 |
16,956 |
8.0% |
↓ |
$ lost from fires (Billions) |
$ 14.3 |
$ 17.2 |
20.4% |
↓ |
To a casual reader, a total of almost 1.5 million fires in the United States, well breaking this list down to where fires actually occur can help determine how we as a community can contribute to a reduction in the number of fires.
From this list the largest single source of fires comes from outdoor fires, contributing a total of 41% of reported fires.

Causes of Residential Fires
Breaking this down into Residential Fires we see that the main cause of residential fires occurs from cooking!
Causes of Residential Fires 2016 |
Cooking |
50.3% |
Heating |
9.6% |
Unintentional, careless |
6.6% |
Electrical malfunction |
6.5% |
Open Flame |
4.3% |
Intentional |
4.2% |
Appliances |
3.6% |
Heat |
3.3% |
Exposure |
2.9% |
Smoking |
2.1% |
Equipment Malfunction |
1.8% |
Natural |
1.7% |
Undetermined |
1.4% |
Other equipment |
1.2% |
Playing with heat source |
0.4% |

Causes of Nonresidential Fires
Causes of Nonresidential Fires in 2016 |
Cooking |
29.9% |
Unintentional, careless |
11.0% |
Intentional |
9.3% |
Electrical malfunction |
7.4% |
Heating |
7.4% |
Open Flame |
5.9% |
Other heat |
5.1% |
Equipment |
4.7% |
Exposure |
4.4% |
Appliances |
3.8% |
Natural |
3.6% |
Equipment malfunction |
3.4% |
Smoking |
2.2% |
Undetermined |
1.6% |
Playing with heat source |
0.3% |

Causes of Outdoor Fires
Causes of Outdoor Fires |
Unintentional |
43.1% |
Undetermined |
25.9% |
Intentional |
17.1% |
Under Investigation |
4.8% |
Act of nature |
4.7% |

Causes of Vehicle Fires
Causes of Vehicle Fires |
Unintentional |
38.5% |
Undetermined |
22.8% |
Equipment Failure |
20.9% |
Under Investigation |
10.0% |
Intentional |
4.8% |
Other |
2.9% |
