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Non-Home Electrical Fires

Report: NFPA's Non-Home Electrical Fires
Author: Richard Campbell
Issued: 
June 2019

 

Report highlights

Local fire departments responded to an estimated average of 16,930 non-confined fires involving electrical distribution and lighting equipment in occupancies other than homes in 2012-2016. 
  • These fires caused an estimated average of 22 civilian deaths and 210 civilian injuries each year, as well as $718 million each year in direct property damage.
  • Wiring and related equipment was the most common type of equipment involved in the non-home electrical distribution and lighting equipment fires and losses

Electrical failures or malfunctions contributed to an estimated annual average of 16,540 non-home fires in the U.S. in 2012-2016. 

  • Non-home fires involving an electrical failure or malfunction caused an estimated average of 23 civilian deaths and 200 civilian injuries each year in 2012-2016, as well as an estimated $637 million in direct property damage a year.
  • Non-home residential properties accounted for 18% of fires, but 82% of deaths in non-home fires involving electrical failure or malfunction, consistent with the general status of residential properties as the property type with the greatest share of fire deaths.