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Nonresidential Building Fire Causes (2014-2023)

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National estimates

The 2023 national estimates for the leading causes of nonresidential building fires show that there were:

33,300 cooking fires.
14,300 intentional fires.
13,800 other unintentional, careless fires.

Overall trends

Overall trends in the leading fire causes for the 10-year period of 2014 to 2023 show the following:

Cooking as the leading cause of nonresidential building fires for the 10-year period.
A 13% increase in nonresidential cooking fires.
A 116% increase in nonresidential intentionally set fires.
A 49% increase in nonresidential other unintentionally or carelessly set fires.

Leading causes of nonresidential building fires (2014-2023)

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	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Cooking	29000	30900	28900	33700	31700	33200	28600	31100	35800	33300
Intentional	8800	9800	9000	10900	10200	12000	14600	17700	18900	14300
Other unintentional, careless	10000	10900	10700	12300	11900	12800	12200	14100	16500	13800
Electrical malfunction	8000	8200	7100	8200	8100	8200	6800	7200	8000	7400
Heating	9000	7900	7100	7600	7100	7400	6400	7100	8100	6500
Open flame	6000	6500	5700	6700	5900	6500	6200	7100	7500	5900

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.