Fire in the United States 2008-2017

The United States Fire Administration's National Fire Data Center recently released the 20th edition of Fire in the United States. This publication presents a statistical overview of fires in the U.S. from 2008 to 2017, with a primary focus on 2017.

This report is designed to provides the fire service and others with information that:

• motivates corrective action,
• sets priorities,
• targets specific fire programs,
• serves as a model for state and local analyses of fire data, and 
• provides a baseline for evaluating programs.

The data in the report shows that, over the 10 years from 2008 to 2017, the U.S. had an annual average of 1,344,100 fires resulting in 3,190 civilian deaths, 16,225 civilian injuries, and $14.7 billion in direct property loss each year. The ten-year trends reflects fires and fire-related injuries have decreased, but fire-related deaths and dollar loss have increased.

Areas that continue to be of concern include:

• the elderly remain at high risk of death from fire;
• the focus for fire injury prevention should be on adults 25–64 and those 80–84;
• males, African Americans and American Indians/Alaskan Natives remain at a higher risk of death from fire than the general population; and
• outside/wildland fires.

To access a copy of the complete report, please visit:

U.S. Fire Administration: Fire in the United States 2008-2017 (November 2019)