1. Residential Fires Are a Public Health Issue
- In 2008, fire departments responded to 403,000 residential fires in the United States.
- These fires killed nearly 2,755 people and injured nearly 13,560 people; 80% of civilian fire deaths and 77% of civilian fire injuries occur in residential fires.
- In the United States, someone dies every 153 minutes and someone is injured every 30 minutes in a residential fire.
- Deaths from fires and burns are the fifth most common cause of unintentional injury deaths in the United States.
- Fire and burn injuries cost $7.5 billion per year.
- There are proven public health strategies that can prevent residential fires and related deaths and injuries including:
- Education about residential fire risks and fire prevention
- Working smoke alarms
- Residential fire sprinklers
- Fire escape planning and practice
- Fire Deaths and Injuries: Fact Sheet - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- An Overview of the U.S. Fire Problem - National Fire Protection Association
- FACTS preventing residential fire injuries - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- This is Fire! (A Factsheet on the Nature of Fire) - U.S. Fire Administration
- Injury Prevention Statistics for New York State - New York State Department of Health
- Monthly Fire Reporting Statistics - New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control
- Fire Loss in the United States During 2009 (Abstract) - National Fire Protection Association
- Welcome to WISQARS™ (Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System) - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- About Compressed Mortality, 1999-2006 - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention