- Author
- Ahrens, M.
- Title
- Home Christmas Tree and Holiday Light Fires.
- Coporate
- National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, MA
- Keywords
- home fires | building fires | fire statistics | death | injuries | damage | lighting equipment | ignition | candles
- Identifiers
- Christmas tree; holiday lights; decorative lights; home structure fires originating with Christmas trees; home structure fires in which holiday lights or other decorative lighting with line voltage were involved in ignition; Christmas tree fires: selected published incidents; how national estimates statistics are calculated
- Abstract
- During the five-year-period of 2000-2004, NFPA estimates that Christmas trees, both natural and artificial, were the item first ignited in an estimated average of 300 reported home structure fires. These fires caused an estimated average of 14 civilian deaths, 21civilian injuries, and $16.8 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. During the same period, holiday lights and other decorative lighting with line voltage were involved in an estimated average of 170 home structure fires per year in this same period. These fires caused an average of 19 civilian injuries, and $5.5 million in direct property damage per year. The analysis examines the causes of these fires.