- Author
- Hall, J. R., Jr.
- Title
- Total Cost of Fire in the United States.
- Coporate
- National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, MA
- Keywords
- costs | fire losses | fire statistics | fire departments | fire insurance | building construction | fire fighters | fire protection
- Identifiers
- estimates of economic loss; costs of fire departments; net fire insurance; building construction for fire protection; summary of the core of total cost of fire; other fire protection costs; non-market "costs"; value of donated time of volunteer fire fighters
- Abstract
- The total cost of fire in the United States is a combination of the losses caused by fire and the money spent to prevent worse losses, by preventing fires, containing them, detecting them quickly, and suppressing them effectively. For 2004, that total cost is estimated at $231-278 billion, or roughly 2 to 2 ½% of U.S. gross domestic product. Property loss represents only $11.7 billion of this total. The net costs of insurance coverage ($16.2 billion), the cost of fire departments ($28.3 billion), building costs for fire protection ($41.3 billion), other economic costs ($38.5 billion), the monetary value of donated time from volunteer firefighters ($52-99 billion), and the estimated monetary equivalent for the deaths and injuries due to fire ($41.9 billion), all are larger components than property loss.