The U.S. fire problem

U.S. highway vehicle fires by year

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Visit NFPA's fact sheet on vehicle safety.

NFPA members: Download NFPA's U.S. Vehicle Fire Trends and Patterns report (PDF, 251 KB), June 2010.
A complete overview of vehicle fire patterns and trends. This report addresses highway vehicles, rail transport vehicles, water transport vehicles, aircraft, and heavy equipment and special vehicles.

Year	Highway vehicle fires	Civilian deaths	Civilian injuries	Direct property damage (In billions) As reported	Direct property damage (In billions) In 2011 dollars
1980	456,000	650	2,850	$0.5	$1.3
1981	453,000	770	2,900	$0.5	$1.2
1982	433,000	575	3,250	$0.5	$1.2
1983	435,500	670	3,400	$0.6	$1.3
1984	437,000	530	3,250	$0.6	$1.4
1985	437,000	770	3,250	$0.7	$1.4
1986	438,000	665	2,850	$0.7	$1.4
1987	451,000	755	2,900	$0.7	$1.5
1988	459,000	800	2,750	$0.8	$1.5
1989	415,500	560	2,750	$0.8	$1.4
1990	415,000	645	3,025	$0.8	$1.4
1991	406,500	530	2,675	$0.8	$1.4
1992	385,500	665	2,750	$0.8	$1.3
1993	402,000	540	2,400	$0.9	$1.4
1994	402,000	555	2,325	$1.0	$1.5
1995	386,000	490	2,275	$1.0	$1.5
1996	395,000	550	2,075	$1.1	$1.6
1997	377,000	450	1,950	$1.1	$1.5
1998	358,500	545	2,050	$1.1	$1.6
1999	345,000	450	1,600	$1.1	$1.5
2000	325,000	450	1,325	$1.2	$1.5
2001	327,000	470	1,750	$1.3	$1.6
2002	307,000	540	1,700	$1.2	$1.5
2003	286,000	455	1,400	$1.1	$1.3
2004	266,500	520	1,300	$1.0	$1.2
2005	259,000	500	1,450	$1.0	$1.2
2006	250,000	445	1,075	$1.0	$1.1
2007	227,500	365	1,500	$1.1	$1.2
2008	207,000	350	850	$1.2	$1.2
2009	190,500	260	1,455	$1.1	$1.1
2010	184,500	285	1,440	$1.0	$1.0
2011	187,500	270	1,020	$1.0	$1.0

Highway vehicles include any vehicle designed to operate normaly on highways, such as automobiles, motorcycles, buses, trucks, and trailers, but not manufactured homes on foundations.

Direct property damage figures do not include indirect losses, like business interruption. Inflation adjustment to 2011 dollars is done using the consumer price index.

Source: Fire Loss in the United States 2011, Michael J. Karter, Jr., September 2012 and previous reports in the series.

Updated: 9/12

			Overview of the U.S. fire problem

			Number of fires by type of fire

			Home fires

			Homes Fires with Ten or More Fatalities

			One- and two-family home fires (includes manufactured homes)

			Structure fires

			Residential structure fires

			Non-residential structure fires

			Apartment structure fires

			Non-home structure fires

			U.S. highway vehicle fires