Home Heating Fires

Report: NFPA's "Home Heating Fires"
Author: Richard Campbell
Issued: December 2022

Report and tables

Home Heating Fires

Heating equipment is a leading cause of fires in U.S. homes. These homes included one- and two-family homes (including manufactured homes) and apartments (including townhouses and other multi-family dwellings).

Download the report.

Supporting tables

The tables in this document are a companion to the Home Fires Involving Heating Equipment report. Most tables, with the exception of fires by year, show estimates of 2014-2018 annual averages.

Download the tables.

Report highlights

• Heating equipment is a leading cause of fires in U.S. homes. Local fire departments responded to an estimated average of 44,210 home structure fires caused by heating equipment each year in 2016-2020. These fires resulted in annual losses of 480 civilian deaths, 1,370 civilian injuries, and $1 billion in direct property damage.
• Heating equipment caused one in six home structure fires (13%) that took place in 2016–2020 and 18% of home fire deaths.
• A vast majority of home heating fire deaths (88%) involved stationary or portable space heaters.
• Nearly half (46%) of all home heating fires occurred in January, February, and December.

 More information

• Read NFPA's heating safety tips.

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