Fire in the United States
Executive Summary
Fire departments in the United States respond to nearly 2 million fire calls each year. The U.S. fire problem, on a per capita basis, is one of the worst in the industrial world. Thousands of Americans die each year, tens of thousands of people are injured, and property losses reach billions of dollars. There are huge indirect costs of fire as well temporary lodging, lost business, medical expenses, psychological damage, pets killed, and others. These indirect costs may be as much as 8 to 10 times higher than the direct costs of fire. To put this in context, the annual losses from floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters combined in the United States average just a fraction of those from fires. The public, the media, and local governments are generally unaware of the magnitude and seriousness of the fire problem to individuals and their families, to communities, and to the nation.
Purpose and Scope
The National Fire Data Center (NFDC) of the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) periodically publishes Fire in the United States - a running 10-year statistical overview of the fires in the United States with the focus on the latest year in which data were available at the time of preparation. This report is designed to arm the fire service and others with information that motivates corrective action, sets priorities, targets specific fire programs, serves as a model for state and local analyses of fire data, and provides a baseline for evaluating programs.
The primary source of data is from the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS). National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) annual survey results, mortality data from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), data from state fire marshals offices or their equivalents, and statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Consumer Price Index are also used. Because of the time it takes for states to submit data to USFA from the thousands of fire departments that participate in NFIRS, then edit and obtain corrections, and analyze and display the results, the publication lags the date of data collection. Fortunately, the fire problem does not change very rapidly so the data are usually quite representative of the situation in the year of publication as well.
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Fire in the United States 1995-2004 14th Edition (PDF, 4.1 Mb)- Fire in the United States 1992-2001 13th Edition (PDF, 1.3 Mb)
- Fire in the United States 1989-1998 12th Edition (PDF, 2.3 Mb)
- Fire in the United States 1987-1996 11th Edition (PDF, 1.7 Mb)
- Fire in the United States 1986-1995 10th Edition (PDF, 2.0 Mb)
- Fire in the United States 1985-1994 9th Edition (PDF, 3.7 Mb)
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Fire in the United States 1995-2004 14th EditionOther Resources on the Fire Problem
The USFA makes available a wealth of publications that address the fire problem in the United States.
These include analytical reports that provide in depth analysis of the magnitude of the fire problem and topical fire reports that explore facets of the fire problem affecting Americans in their daily lives.
In addition, the USFA conducts special studies to address specific problems and current issues facing the nation's fire and rescue service.
- The technical reports produced under the Major Fires Investigations Series analyze major or unusual fires with emphasis on sharing lessons learned. They are directed primarily at chief officers, training officers, fire marshals, and investigators as a resource for training and prevention. These technical reports can be ordered or downloaded through the USFA Publications Catalog.
- For two decades, USFA has kept track of firefighter fatalities and conducted an analysis of the fatalities that occur each year. Through the collection of information on the causes of firefighter deaths, the USFA is able to focus on specific problems and direct efforts towards finding solutions to reduce the number of firefighter fatalities in the future. This information is also used to measure the effectiveness of current efforts directed toward firefighter health and safety. The specific objective of the study Firefighter Fatalities in the United States is to identify all of the on-duty firefighter fatalities that occur in the United States and to analyze the circumstances surrounding each occurrence.
Those interested in the National Fire Incident Reporting System and data analysis should read the following:
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- Fire Data Analysis Handbook, 2nd Edition (PDF, 1.1 Mb) - describes statistical techniques for analyzing data typically collected in fire departments.
- The Uses of NFIRS: The Many Uses of the National Fire Incident Reporting System (PDF, 225 Kb) - details the variety and types of analyses possible using NFIRS data.
Other USFA publications covering topics such as fire prevention, public education, and firefighter casualties may be ordered free of charge or downloaded through the USFA Publications Catalog.
Last Reviewed: February 19, 2008
U.S. Fire Administration, 16825 S. Seton Ave., Emmitsburg, MD 21727
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