Oct 2009

National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Fire Loss Statistics in the USA for 2008

  • 515,000 structure fires, decrease of 2.9% from 2007
  • Of these structure fires, 403,000 or 78%, were residential fires
  • A fire department responded to a fire somewhere in the U.S. every 22 sec.
  • 3,320 civilian deaths due to fire in 2008, increase of 3.2% from 2007 (one every 158 min.)
  • 2,755 civilian deaths in residential fires (83% of total), decrease of 3.8% from 2007
  • 16,705 civilian fire injuries occurred in 2008, a decrease of 5.5% from 2007 (one every 31 min.)
  • 13,560 of all civilian injuries occurred in residential properties, while 1,400 occurred in nonresidential structure fires.
  • An estimated 30,500 structure fires were deliberately set (decrease of 6.2% from 2007)
  • Incendiary or suspicious fires resulted in 315 civilian deaths
  • Property damage as a result of fire is estimated at $15,478,000,000 in 2008, an increase of 5.7% from 2007

Data courtesy of:
Fire Loss in the United States 2008, August 2009 Report, Michael J. Karter Jr.,
National Fire Protection Association – Fire Analysis and Research Division