-
Fire Navigation
- Fire Deaths and Injury: Fact Sheet
-
FireSafety.gov:
Residential fire safety and prevention information distributed by the Federal government.
Fire Prevention Week: October 7-13, 2007
"Practice Your Escape Plan!" is the theme for Fire Prevention Week 2007; because it's not enough to have a home fire escape plan, you抳e also got to practice it. When creating your fire escape plan, identify at least two different ways each family member can escape every room, and designate a safe place in front of the home for family members to meet after escaping a fire. Then practice your plan twice a year.
Escape plans are important because residential fires are the leading cause of fire-related mortality. In 2006, fire departments responded to 412,500 home fires in the United States, which claimed the lives of 2,580 people and injured another 12,925, not including firefighters (Karter 2007). On average in the United States in 2006, someone died in a fire every 162 minutes, and someone was injured every 32 minutes (Karter 2007). Residential fires accounted for nearly $7 billion in property damage.
Fire-related deaths and injuries can be prevented. In fact, smoke alarms decrease the chances of dying in a house fire by 40%-50% (Ahrens 2004). However, about one-quarter of U.S. households lack working smoke alarms (Ahrens 2004).
Older adults are at much higher risk for residential fire deaths when compared with the rest of the population (CDC 2006). Residential fires also disproportionately affect young children, African Americans, Native Americans, and the poorest Americans (U.S. Fire Administration 2001; Istre 2001).
For more information,
including tips about how to prevent residential fire-related injuries, see
the fact sheet on fire deaths and
injuries. Also read a related CDC
MMWR article
about nonfatal injuries.
Featured Article
Research Update: Lessons from CDC抯 Smoke Alarm Installation and Fire Safety
Education Program
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/duip/research/research_update-Smoke_Alarms.htm
References
Ahrens M. U.S. experience with smoke alarms and other fire alarms. Quincy
(MA): National Fire Protection Association; 2004.
CDC. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) [Online]. (2006). National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (producer). Available from URL: www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars. [cited 2007 Jan 27].
Istre GR, McCoy MA, Osborn L, Barnard JJ, Bolton A. Deaths and injuries from house fires. New England Journal of Medicine 2001;344:1911�
Karter MJ. Fire loss in the United States during 2006. Quincy (MA): National Fire Protection Association, Fire Analysis and Research Division; 2007.
United States Fire Administration, FEMA, National Fire Data Center. Fire in the United States: 1989�98. 12th ed. Emmitsburg (MD): United States Fire Administration; 2001.
* Links to non-Federal organizations found at this site are provided solely as a service to our users. These links do not constitute an endorsement of these organizations or their programs by CDC or the Federal Government, and none should be inferred. CDC is not responsible for the content of the individual organization Web pages found at these links.
Page last modified: October 09, 2007