Report: NFPA's "Fire Loss in the United States During 2020"
Author: Marty Ahrens and Ben Evarts
Issued: September 2021
Key findings
- Local fire departments responded to 1,338,500 fires in 2020. These fires caused 3,500 civilian deaths, 15,200 civilian injuries and $21.9 billion in property damage.
- Every 23 seconds, a fire department in the United States responds to a fire somewhere in the nation. A fire occurs in a structure at the rate of one every 64 seconds, and a home fire occurs every 89 seconds.
- Seventy-four percent of all fire deaths were caused by home fires. This includes the 64 percent that resulted from fires in one- or two-family homes and the 10 percent caused by fires in apartments or other multi-family housing.
- Eighteen percent of fire deaths were caused by vehicle fires.
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