Cooking Fire Statistics
Cooking Fire Statistics are comprised by documented reports of home fires cause by unattended or forgotten cooking.
The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA)
The USFA collects data from a variety of sources to provide information and analyses on the status and scope of the fire problem in the United States.
Residential building fire causes (2012)
- 48.7% Cooking
- 12.1% Heating
- 5.6% Unintentional Careless
National estimates for the leading reported causes of fires in residential buildings for 2012, the most recent year data are available, are:
- Cooking 182,000 fires.
- Heating 45,200 fires.
Overall trends in the leading reported fire causes for the 10-year period of 2003 to 2012 show:
- Cooking as the leading reported cause of residential building fires for the 10-year period.
- A 12 percent increase in residential cooking fires.
- A 28 percent decrease in residential heating fires.
National estimates for the leading causes of residential building fire injuries for 1012, the most recent year data are available are:
- Cooking: 4,425 injuries.
- Open flame: 1,100 injuries.
- Appliances: 1,075 injuries.
- Other unintentional, careless: 1,050 injuries.
Overall trends in the leading reported fire injury causes for the 10-year period of 2003 to 2012 show:
- Cooking as the leading reported cause of residential building fire injuries for the 10-year period.
- A 40% increase in residential cooking fire injuries.
- A 42 percent decrease in residential open flame fire injuries.
- A 77 percent increase in residential appliance fire injuries. (This is mainly due to a new NFIRS coding edit implemented in 2012).
- A 10 percent decrease in residential other unintentional, careless fire injuries.
U.S fire departments responded to and estimated of 366,600 residential fires during 2007-2011.
These fires caused an annual average of
- 2,570 civilian fire deaths
- 13, 210 civilian fire injuries, and
- $7.2 billion in direct damage
- 92% of all structure fires resulted from home fires
- On average, seven people died in U.S. home fires per day
Causes and Circumstances of Home Fires:
- Cooking was the leading cause of home structure fires and home fire injuries
- Smoking was the leading cause of civilian home fire deaths. Heating equipment was the second most common cause of home fatalities
Leading Causes of Home Structure Fires: 2007 – 2011
Fact: Older adults face a higher risk of dying in a fire!
Source: FEMA www.usfa.fema.gov/data/statistics