- Author
-
Ahrens, M.
- Title
- Lightning Fires and Lightning Strikes.
- Coporate
- National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, MA
- Report
-
NFPA No. USS51,
January 2008,
35 p.
- Keywords
-
lightning
|
fire statistics
|
fire departments
|
death
|
damage
|
injuries
|
costs
|
home fires
|
fire losses
|
wildland fires
- Identifiers
- non-residential fires started by lightning
- Abstract
- During the four-year-period of 2002-2005, NFPA estimates that U.S. fire departments responded to an estimated 31,400 fires started by lightning per year. These fires caused an estimated average of 12 civilian deaths, 57 civilian injuries and $213 million in direct property damage per year. These estimates are based on data from the U.S. Fire Administration's (USFA's) National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) and the National Fire Protection Association's (NFPA's) annual fire department experience survey. Only 16% of reported lightning fires occurred in homes, but these fires caused a majority of the associated losses. Lightning is also a major factor in wildland fires. Most lightning fatalities do not result from fire. Most of these victims were outside when lightning struck.