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Residential Building Electrical Malfunction Fire Trends (2013-2022)

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National estimates

The 2022 national estimates for residential building electrical malfunction fires and losses show that there were:

26,100 fires.
185 deaths.
850 injuries.
$1,492,400,000 in dollar loss.

Overall trends

Overall trends for residential building electrical malfunction fires and losses for the 10-year period of 2013 to 2022 show the following:

A 6% increase in fires.
A 37% decrease in deaths.
A 7% increase in injuries.
A 27% increase in dollar loss.^*
In 2018, there were 32 incidents with a reported dollar loss of $1,000,000 or more, 14 in 2019, 13 in 2020, 23 in 2021 and 31 in 2022. These incidents may have contributed to the continued increase in fire dollar loss. The 2019 high-dollar-loss fires included a $26,400,000 hotel fire in New Orleans, Louisiana. The 2022 high-dollar-loss fires included an $11,000,000 apartment building fire in Belton, Missouri.

^*This overall constant dollar-loss trend takes inflation into account by adjusting each year's dollar loss to its equivalent 2022 value.

Fires, deaths, injuries and dollar loss

Residential building electrical malfunction fires (2013-2022)

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	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Fires	23100	23900	24500	23500	24100	25700	24200	23400	24200	26100

Residential building electrical malfunction fire deaths (2013-2022)

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	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Deaths	335	325	290	310	200	255	225	200	295	185

Residential building electrical malfunction fire injuries (2013-2022)

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	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Injuries	875	925	850	800	750	825	1050	975	900	850

Residential building electrical malfunction fire dollar loss (2013-2022)

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Year	Dollar loss
2013	1161300000
2014	1148900000
2015	1172000000
2016	1106000000
2017	1263000000
2018	1430500000
2019	1383200000
2020	1284400000
2021	1297600000
2022	1492400000

Fire estimate summaries present basic data on the size and status of the fire problem in the U.S. as depicted through data reported to the U.S. Fire Administration's (USFA's) National Fire Incident Reporting System from incidents reported by local response agencies. Each Fire Estimate Summary addresses the size of the specific fire or fire-related issue and highlights important trends in the data.

Fire estimate summaries are based on the USFA's National Estimates Methodology for Building Fires and Losses PDF. The USFA is committed to providing the best and most current information on the U.S. fire problem and continually examines data received from participating fire departments and the analytical methods used to fulfill this goal. Because of this commitment, data collection strategies and methodological changes are possible and do occur. Previous estimates on specific issues (or similar issues) may have used different methodologies or data definitions and, therefore, may not be directly comparable to current estimates.