- Author
-
Ahrens, M.
- Title
- Vacant Building Fires.
- Coporate
- National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, MA
- Report
-
NFPA No. USS79,
April 2009,
60 p.
- Keywords
-
building fires
|
fire statistics
|
fire losses
|
death
|
injuries
|
fire fighters
|
damage
|
arson
|
fire data
|
surveys
|
fire departments
|
methodology
|
fire fighting
- Abstract
- Fires in vacant buildings have become a matter of increasing concern as the economy has weakened. In 2003-2006, U.S. fire departments responded to an estimated average of 31,000 structure fires in vacant buildings per year. These fires resulted in an average of 50 civilian deaths, 141 civilian injuries, and $642 million in direct property damage per year. Based on annual averages for 2003-2006, the 31,000 reported vacant structure fires accounted for 6% of the 520,100 structure fires, 2% of the 3,125 civilian structure fire deaths, 1% of the 15,200 civilian structure fire injuries, and 7% of the $9.0 billion in direct property loss. These statistics are national estimates of fires reported to U.S. municipal fire departments based on the detailed information collected in Version 5.0 of the U.S. Fire Administration's National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS 5.0) and the National Fire Protection Association's (NFPA's) annual fire department experience survey. Vacant building fires increased by 2% from 31,900 in 2005 to 32,700 in 2006. The increase was similar to the 3% increase in all structure fires. Fires in vacant homes increased more than vacant building fires overall. Vacant home fires increased 11% from 18,900 in 2005 to 21,000 in 2006 compared to a 4% increase in overall home fires during the same period. The U.S. Census Bureau's Housing Vacancy Survey found that the number of vacant housing units grew by 5% from 15.7 million in 2005 to 16.4 million in 2006, by 7% from 2006 to 17.7 million in 2007, and by 6% from 2007 to 18.7 million units in 2008.