- Author
- Ahrens, M.
- Title
- Home Structure Fires That Began With Decorations.
- Coporate
- National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, MA
- Keywords
- fire statistics | building fires | home fires | death | injuires | heat sources | damage | candles
- Identifiers
- holiday fires; decorations; home structure fires in which decorations were first ignited by month: 2000-2004 annual averages; leading areas of origin in non-confined home decoration structure fires: January to November vs. December 2000-2004 annual averages; home decoration outside and unclassified fires by month 2000-2004 annual averages; how national estimates statistics are calculated; projecting NFIRS to national estimates; calculating national estimates of particular types of fires
- Abstract
- 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, NFPA estimates that decorations were the item first ignited in an estimated average of 1,610 reported home structure fires per year. (Homes include one- and two-family dwellings, apartments or other multiple family dwellings, and manufactured housing.) These fires caused an estimated average of seven civilian deaths, 60 civilian injuries and $24.9 million in direct property damage. Onequarter occurred in December. Half of these fires occurred because the decoration was too close to a heat source. Fifty-nine percent of these incidents were started by candles. One-quarter started in the living room, family room, den or common room. More detail is provided in the full report.