- Author
- Federal Emergency Management Agency
- Title
- Church Fires.
- Coporate
- Federal Emergency Management Agency, Emmitsburg, MD
- Journal
- Topical Fire Research Series, Vol. 2, No. 7, 1-3, August 2001
- Distribution
- For more information about Topical Fire Research Series contact: Website: http://www.usfa.fema.gov/nfdc/tfrs.htm AVAILABLE FROM: U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), 16825 South Seton Ave., Emmitsburg, MD 21727. Telephone: 301-447-1000. Website: http://www.usfa.fema.gov/
- Keywords
- building fires | fire statistics | ignition | fire alarm systems
- Identifiers
- average of 1,300 church fires are reported each year, causing $38 million in property loss; leading cause of church fires is arson (25%); 30% of church fires are the result of mechanical failures. Faulty wiring and improperly functioning heating systems are often at fault, perhaps because they are in older structures and have not been brought up to local fire codes; churches that reported fires, 65% had no smoke alarms and 96% had no sprinkler system