- 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