- Author
- Topical Fire Research Series
- Title
- Heating Fires in Residential Building.
- Journal
- Topical Fire Research Series, Vol. 6, No. 3, 1-7, November 2006
- Keywords
- residential buildings | heating | fire statistics | building fires | ignition | fire fatalities
- Identifiers
- buildings: 3-year average 2002-2004; loss measures for building fires; loss measures for non-confined building fires; loss measures for confined building fires; item first ignited in residential building heating fires; leading causes of residential building fires; type of residence and type of incident; equipment involved in heating fires; civilian fatalities; ernative heat sources
- Abstract
- Between 2002 and 2004, an annual average of 49,100 heating fires occurred in residential buildings and were responsible for an estimated 125 civilian fire deaths, 575 injuries, and $232 million in property loss. The term heating fires applies to those fires that are caused by functioning or malfunctioning central heating units, fixed or portable local heating units, fireplaces, heating stoves, chimneys, and water heaters. This topical report examines the causes and characteristics of heating fires that occur in residential buildings. Data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) (2002-2004) show losses from residential building heating fires are lower than those averaged across all building fires (Table 1). When the small-loss, confined-heating fires are segregated out, the loss per fire for non-confined heating and non-confined, nonheating fires is nearly equal; deaths and injuries per thousand fires, however, are slightly higher for non-confined heating fires (Table 2). For confined heating fires in residential buildings - those fires confined to a chimney, chimney flue, fuel burner, or boiler malfunction - the loss per fire is nearly twice that of residential building, nonheating confined fires, while the injury rate is quite small (Table 3). As deaths are a rare occurrence in confined fires, the death rates across these groupings are minimal and virtually indistinguishable.