Residential Building Fires Cost $1.1B in Property Losses

An estimated 25,900 residential building electrical fires were reported to fire departments within the United States each year between 2009 and 2011, according to the National Fire Data Center’s latest Topical Fire Report Series. These fires caused an estimated 280 deaths, 1,125 injuries and $1.1 billion in property loss.

Residential building electrical fires resulted in greater dollar loss per fire than residential building non-electrical fires.

In 79 percent of residential building electrical fires, the fire spread beyond the object where the fire started.

The leading items most often first ignited in residential building electrical fires were electrical wire/cable insulation (30 percent) and structural member or framing (19 percent).