The Statistics Of Fire in the USA

5/9/2022 (Permalink)

Flames in residential homes can spread quickly due to personal belongings and many furniture items.

The Fire Statistics: House-fires are more common than you think…

According to FEMA the number of house-fires in from 2015-2019 was 346,800.

That is actually a 3.2% decrease from 10 years prior.

Fires cost an average of 14.8 billion dollars’ worth of damage to properties per year. This is over a 74% increase from 10 years prior.

Fire deaths are also at a 10 year high at over 3,700 fire related deaths reported in 2019.

Here in Oregon we have 308 registered fire departments.

So far this year (as of May 1^st), we have 7 reported deaths due to house-fires in the state of Oregon.

We also lost beloved firefighter Austin Smith during a barn fire in February of this year, he was from the St. Paul Fire District. He was just 30 years old.

Cooking remains the top cause of house-fires at over 50%.

Cooking accounts for approximately 30% of commercial fires.

Education of prevention and the top causes of fires is more important than ever. Especially considering almost 8% of house fires were started due to negligence (not arson). This means that over 27,000 house-fires were completely preventable.

Here is a wonderful tool that you can use for your home whether you own or rent. Print it out, hang it up, go over it with your kids, or anyone that lives in the home with you. Fire Safety Checklist: https://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/fief/up_in_smoke_home_checklist.pdf

Resources: https://www.usfa.fema.gov/index.html

More resources: www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/types-of-emergencies/fire.html