- Author
- Rohr, K. D.
- Title
- Products First Ignited in U.S. Home Fires.
- Coporate
- National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, MA
- Report
- Home Project Report, April 2005, 137 p.
- Distribution
- AVAILABLE FROM: NFPA One Stop Data Shop, 1 Batterymarch Park, P.O. Box 9101, Quincy, MA 02269-9101. Telephone: 617-984-7540, Fax: 617-984-7478, Email: osds@nfpa.org. Website: http://www.nfpa.org
- Keywords
- home fires | ignition | fire statistics | clothing | furniture | interior finishes | interior furnishes | mattresses | beds (furniture) | curtains | drapes | fabrics | upholstered furniture | appliances | wall coverings | floor coverings | ceilings | insulation | paper | organic materials
- Identifiers
- soft goods and wearing apparel; finishes and coverings; decorations and recreational material; supplies and stock; organic materials; ow national estimates statistics are calculated; overview of items ignition in home fires, 1994-1998
- Abstract
- Homes averaged 372,400 fires, 2,948 civilian deaths, 15,333 civilian injuries, and $5.4 billion in direct property damage per year between 1999 and 2002. Home fires per year have declined by 215,300 since the first five-year time period (1983-1987) this report examined. Civilian deaths and injuries have also been on a slight downward trend, but direct property damage has shown a steady increase which is attributable to inflation. The figures for all available years, 1980-2002, are provided for each product for comparison purposes. There are many that can be done to prevent home fires. Consumers have some control over the size, characteristics, and arrangement of the fuel load in our homes and how potential heat sources interact with these fuel loads. Mandatory and voluntary product standards also have an impact. This report focuses on the roles of combustible products in a home as initial fuels in fires. Differences in how products burn - intensity of heat when fully involved (peak rate of heat release), rate of production of smoke or products of combustion (mass loss rate), quality of gases when produced (toxic potency), corrosiveness of smoke, and so forth - are beyond the scope of our data bases but may be important to a full hazard or risk analysis. Testing and fire modeling, rather than simple data analysis, are needed to address these subjects. Discussions in this report will be limited to only those items that are considered products. Trash, for example, has a considerable share of home fires but is clearly not a home product. Building materials such as structural members and exterior coverings are also excluded. Of the products discussed in this report, mattresses and bedding, which are treated together, account for roughly one-and-a-half times as many fires as interior wall covering, the next leading product.