The risk of death or injury from fire is not the same for everyone. For some groups of people, fire risk is more severe.
Men are more likely to die and be injured in fires.
| Genders | Deaths | Injuries |
|---|---|---|
| Male | 63.8% | 61.4% |
| Female | 36.2% | 38.6% |
National fire death rate: 13.0
National fire injury rate: 44.3
per million population (2021)
Our latest reports
Fatal Fires in Residential Buildings (2018-2020)
This topical report addresses the characteristics of fatal fires in residential buildings as reported to the National Fire Incident Reporting System. Fatal fires in residential buildings most often started in bedrooms (27%).
Fire Department Overall Run Profile as Reported to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (2020)
Fire departments provide invaluable services to communities nationwide. To understand the full role they play in a community, this topical report profiles fire department run activity as reflected in the 2020 NFIRS data.
Recreational Vehicle (RV) Fires (2018-2020)
This data snapshot provides statistics on RV fire loss, time of alarm, fires by day and month, fire cause, and leading areas of fire origin.
Portable Heater Fires in Residential Buildings (2017-2019)
While portable heater fires in residential buildings were only 3% of all heating fires in residential buildings, their consequences were substantial, accounting for 41% of fatal heating fires in residential buildings. Many of these fires were preventable, as human error was a contributing factor to the fire.
Residential building fire causes
2022 estimate of residential building fires: 374,300
Cooking was the leading cause of home fires in 2022.
| 47.7% | Cooking | |
| 9.3% | Heating | |
| 8.8% | Unintentional, careless | |
| 7.0% | Electrical malfunction |
U.S. fire department responses (2022)
Emergency medical services (EMS) calls are by far the leading incident type that U.S. fire departments respond to.
| EMS and Rescue | 65.2 |
|---|---|
| Good intent | 11.3 |
| False alarms | 7.9 |
| Service calls | 7.7 |
| Fires | 4.0 |
| All other | 3.9 |
Fires, deaths, injuries and dollar loss
Fires (2013-2022)
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fires | 1240000 | 1298000 | 1345500 | 1342000 | 1319500 | 1318500 | 1291500 | 1388500 | 1353500 | 1504500 |
Fire deaths (2013-2022)
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deaths | 3240 | 3275 | 3280 | 3390 | 3400 | 3655 | 3704 | 3500 | 3800 | 3790 |
Fire injuries (2013-2022)
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Injuries | 15925 | 15775 | 15700 | 14650 | 14670 | 15200 | 16600 | 15200 | 14700 | 13250 |
Fire dollar loss (2013-2022)
| Year | Dollar loss |
|---|---|
| 2013 | 14478418227 |
| 2014 | 14346196924 |
| 2015 | 17654350490 |
| 2016 | 16584519014 |
| 2017 | 27460284758 |
| 2018 | 29835759258 |
| 2019 | 16964710921 |
| 2020 | 24725356457 |
| 2021 | 17233995774 |
| 2022 | 18072000000 |
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dollar loss | 14.5 | 14.3 | 17.7 | 16.6 | 27.5 | 29.8 | 17.0 | 24.7 | 17.22 | 18.1 |
Excludes large $ loss fires (2013-2022)
| Year | Dollar loss |
|---|---|
| 2013 | 13950160105 |
| 2014 | 14346196924 |
| 2015 | 15246602311 |
| 2016 | 15473681809 |
| 2017 | 15521030516 |
| 2018 | 15384063367 |
| 2019 | 16964710921 |
| 2020 | 16583832333 |
| 2021 | 16501737259 |
| 2022 | 18072000000 |
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dollar loss | 14.0 | 14.3 | 15.2 | 15.5 | 15.5 | 15.4 | 17.0 | 16.6 | 16.5 | 18.1 |
Trends
| Fires | 1,504,500 in 2022 | +12.2% from 2013 |
|---|---|---|
| Deaths | 3,790 in 2022 | +18.6% from 2013 |
| Injuries | 13,250 in 2022 | -9.5% from 2013 |
| $ Loss* | $18.1 billion in 2022 | +28.9% from 2013 |
| No Large $ | $18.1 billion in 2022 | +24.5% from 2013 |
Source: National Fire Protection Association
- 2013: The direct dollar loss includes the Black Forest Fire in Colorado, which totaled $420,500,000 in damage.
- 2015: The direct dollar loss includes the Valley and Butte Wildfires in California with an estimated property loss of $1,950,000,000.
- 2016: The direct dollar loss includes the Gatlinburg, Tennessee, wildfires with an estimated property loss of $911,000,000.
- 2017: The direct dollar loss includes a $10,000,000,000 loss for Northern California wildfires.
- 2018: The direct dollar loss includes $12,400,000,000 in losses from California wildfires.
- 2020: The direct dollar loss includes $4,200,000,000 losses in California wildland urban interface (WUI) fires and a $3 billion naval ship fire in California.
- 2021: The direct dollar loss includes $678,000,000 losses in California WUI fires.
Nonresidential building fire causes
2022 estimate of nonresidential building fires: 129,500
| 27.6% | Cooking | |
| 14.6% | Intentional | |
| 12.8% | Unintentional, careless | |
| 6.2% | Electrical malfunction | |
| 6.2% | heating |
General property use (2022)
Fires by general property use
| 48.5% | Outside | |
| 24.3% | Residential structure | |
| 12.9% | Vehicles | |
| 9.5% | Nonresidential structure | |
| 4.7% | Other |
Source: National Fire Incident Reporting System
fire departments are listed in the National Fire Department Registry.
| Volunteer | |
|---|---|
| Mostly volunteer | |
| Career | |
| Mostly career |