Main content
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 | 62.3% | 59.6% |
| Female | 37.7% | 40.4% |
National fire death rate: 11.4
National fire injury rate: 45.9
per million population (2020)
Our latest reports
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.
Heating Fires in Residential Buildings (2017-2019)
Although trending downward since the early 1980's, heating fires remained the second leading cause of residential building fires.
Residential building fire causes
Cooking was the leading cause of home fires in 2020.
| 51.8% | Cooking | |
| 8.9% | Heating | |
| 7.5% | Unintentional, careless | |
| 6.3% | Electrical malfunction |
U.S. fire department responses (2020)
Emergency medical services (EMS) calls are by far the leading incident type that U.S. fire departments respond to.
| EMS | 64.2 |
|---|---|
| Good intent | 11.7 |
| False alarms | 8.0 |
| Service calls | 7.6 |
| Fires | 3.9 |
| All other | 4.6 |
Fires, deaths, injuries and dollar loss
Fires (2011-2020)
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fires | 1389500 | 1375000 | 1240000 | 1298000 | 1345500 | 1342000 | 1319500 | 1318500 | 1291500 | 1388500 |
Fire deaths (2011-2020)
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deaths | 3005 | 2855 | 3240 | 3275 | 3280 | 3390 | 3400 | 3655 | 3704 | 3500 |
Fire injuries (2011-2020)
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Injuries | 17500 | 16500 | 15925 | 15775 | 15700 | 14650 | 14670 | 15200 | 16600 | 15200 |
Fire dollar loss (2011-2020)
| Year | Dollar loss |
|---|---|
| 2011 | 13414647744 |
| 2012 | 14008398726 |
| 2013 | 12804065879 |
| 2014 | 12687135269 |
| 2015 | 15612718404 |
| 2016 | 14666607270 |
| 2017 | 24284648336 |
| 2018 | 26385411797 |
| 2019 | 15002831998 |
| 2020 | 21866000000 |
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dollar loss | 13.4 | 14.0 | 12.8 | 12.7 | 15.6 | 14.7 | 24.3 | 26.4 | 15.0 | 21.9 |
Excludes large $ loss fires (2011-2020)
| Year | Dollar loss |
|---|---|
| 2011 | 12954414526 |
| 2012 | 13368794200 |
| 2013 | 12336898009 |
| 2014 | 12687135269 |
| 2015 | 13483413544 |
| 2016 | 13684232502 |
| 2017 | 13726105581 |
| 2018 | 13604977958 |
| 2019 | 15002831998 |
| 2020 | 14666000000 |
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dollar loss | 13.0 | 13.4 | 12.3 | 12.7 | 13.5 | 13.7 | 13.7 | 13.6 | 15.0 | 14.7 |
Trends
| Fires |
1,388,500 in 2020 |
-0.6% from 2011 |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Deaths |
3,500 in 2020 |
+23.7% from 2011 |
|
| Injuries |
15,200 in 2020 |
-9.2% from 2011 |
|
| $ Loss* |
$21.9 billion in 2020 |
+83.8% from 2011 |
|
| No Large $ |
$14.7 billion in 2020 |
+15.9% from 2011 |
Source: National Fire Protection Association
- 2011: The direct dollar loss includes the Bastrop County, Texas Complex Wildfire with an estimated property loss of $400,000,000.
- 2012: The direct dollar loss includes the Waldo Canyon Fire and the High Park Fire in Colorado, accounting for a total of $567,400,000 in damage.
- In 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 fires and a $3 billion naval ship fire in California.
Nonresidential building fire causes
Intentional was the second leading cause of nonresidential building fires in 2020.
| 27.7% | Cooking | |
| 14.1% | Intentional | |
| 11.8% | Unintentional, careless | |
| 6.6% | Electrical malfunction |
General property use (2020)
Residential is the leading property use for fire deaths (70.6%), fire injuries (74.3%) and fire dollar loss (34.7%).
Fires by general property use
| 45.0% | Outside | |
| 27.2% | Residential structure | |
| 14.1% | Vehicles | |
| 8.9% | 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 |