Topical Fire reporT SerieS

U.S. Department of Homeland Security • U.S. Fire Administration 

National Fire Data Center • Emmitsburg, Maryland 21727 

www.usfa.fema.gov/statistics/

Volume 12, Issue 6 / June 2011

Residential Building Fires Involving 

Individuals with Physical Disabilities

These topical reports are designed to 

explore facets of the U.S. fire problem as 

depicted through data collected in the U.S. 

Fire Administration’s (USFA’s) National Fire 

Incident Reporting System (NFIRS). Each 

topical report briefly addresses the nature 

of the specific fire or fire-related topic, 

highlights important findings from the 

data, and may suggest other resources to 

consider for further information.

Findings

■ An estimated 700 residential building fires involving individuals with physical disabilities 

are reported to U.S. fire departments each year and cause an estimated 160 deaths, 200 

injuries, and $26 million in total loss.

■ Cooking (22 percent) is the leading cause of residential building fires where a physical 

disability is reported as a human factor contributing to ignition. 

■ Sixty-five percent of residential building fires involving people with physical disabilities are 

limited to the object or room of origin.

■ The cooking area or kitchen is the primary area of origin for residential building fires 

involving individuals with physical disabilities (38 percent).

■ Residential building fires involving people with physical disabilities are more prevalent in 

January (12 percent) and December (10 percent). 

From 2007 to 2009, an estimated 700 residential building fires involving individuals with disabilities were 

reported by U.S. fire departments annually. These fires 

caused an estimated 160 deaths, 200 injuries, and $26 million dollars in property damage.1, 2, 3 A companion topical 

report on residential building fires involving individuals 

with mental disabilities is also available, Residential Building 

Fires Involving Individuals with Mental Disabilities, Vol. 12, Issue 5.4

When a fire breaks out, escaping a building safely can be 

challenging. Many people can become disoriented and panicked because of dense smoke in the home or the presence 

of flames. People with disabilities are confronted with additional challenges when trying to evacuate a building. If an 

individual is bedridden, uses a wheelchair, or uses another 

medical apparatus to maneuver, such as crutches, it can be 

very difficult to navigate an escape route. As well, a physical 

disability may affect an individual’s capability to act quickly 

to prevent a potential fire. 

To help individuals with disabilities, the Americans with 

Disabilities Act (ADA) provides that certain multistory buildings must contain areas of rescue assistance (ARA). These 

areas are where people with disabilities can go to await 

assistance or further instruction during an emergency situation.5

 The guidelines in the ADA dictate in which buildings 

ARAs are required as well as when ARAs do not need to be 

provided. In these areas, individuals with disabilities must 

be able to communicate with people outside the building 

both audibly and visually.6

 If the individual, however, 

resides in a building that does not contain ARAs, evacuation 

is left up to the individual, other people with whom they 

live, or neighbors until the fire department can arrive. 

This report focuses on the characteristics of residential 

building fires where a physical disability, as reported to 

the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) from 

2007 to 2009, contributed to the ignition of the fire. It is 

important to note that this analysis does not address those 

fire casualties where a physical disability contributed to the 

injury.

The NFIRS data are used for the analyses presented throughout the report. For the purpose of the report, the term “residential building fires involving individuals with physical 

disabilities” is synonymous with “fires involving individuals 

with physical disabilities.” “Fires involving individuals with 

physical disabilities” are used throughout the body of this 

report; the findings, tables, charts, headings, and footnotes 

reflect the full category “residential building fires involving 

individuals with physical disabilities.”

Type of Fire

Building fires are divided into two classes of severity in 

NFIRS: “confined fires,” which are those fires confined to 

certain types of equipment or objects, and “nonconfined 

fires,” which are not. Confined building fires are small fire 

incidents that are limited in extent, staying within pots 
TFRS Volume 12, Issue 6/Residential Building Fires Involving Individuals with Physical Disabilities Page 2

or fireplaces or certain other noncombustible containers.7

Confined fires rarely result in serious injury or large content 

losses, and are expected to have no significant accompanying property losses due to flame damage.8

Nonconfined fires account for 84 percent of fires involving 

individuals with physical disabilities (Table 1). Cooking fires 

account for 92 percent of the confined fires.

Table 1. Residential Building Fires Involving Individuals with Physical Disabilities 

by Type of Incident (2007–2009) 

Incident Type Percent of Fires

Nonconfined fires 84.0

Building fires 76.9

Fire in mobile home used as a fixed residence 6.1

Fires in structures other than a building 0.6

Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle 0.3

Fire in mobile property used as a fixed structure, other 0.1

Confined fires 16.0

Cooking fire, confined to container 14.7

Trash or rubbish fire, contained 0.8

Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue 0.4

Total 100.0

Source: NFIRS 5.0.

Notes: 1) Total may not add to 100 percent due to rounding.

 2) Prior to 2008, fires in structures other than a building are included, as previous analyses have shown that fires coded as structures other than a building were often building fires and the codes used 

interchangeably.

NFIRS allows abbreviated reporting for confined fires and 

many reporting details of these fires are not required nor 

reported. In the case of confined fires involving individuals with physical disabilities, however, many of the details 

of these fires are included. The subsequent analysis in this 

report, therefore, includes all fires involving individuals 

with physical disabilities and does not distinguish between 

confined and nonconfined fires.

Type of Property

Residential buildings are divided into three major property 

types: one- and two-family buildings, multifamily buildings, and other. One- and two-family residential buildings 

include detached single-family residences, manufactured homes, mobile homes not in transit, and duplexes. 

Multifamily residential buildings include apartments, condos, and townhouses. Other residential buildings include 

all other types of residential buildings, such as hotels or 

motels, long-term care facilities, dormitories, and sorority 

or fraternity housing. 

One- and two-family residential buildings account for the 

largest portion (63 percent) of residential fires involving 

individuals with physical disabilities as reported by NFIRS 

(Table 2). Multifamily buildings were involved in 30 percent of fires involving people with physical disabilities. 

Table 2. Residential Building Fires Involving Individuals with Physical Disabilities 

by Property Type (2007–2009)

Property Type Percent of Fires

One- and Two-Family 63.0

Multifamily 30.1

Other 6.9

Total 100.0

Source: NFIRS 5.0.

Loss Measures

Table 3 presents losses, averaged over this 3-year period, of 

reported residential fires where “physically disabled” was 

identified as a human factor contributing to the ignition of 

the fire.9

 While fires involving individuals with physical disabilities are similar in the dollar loss per fire to fires involving individuals with mental disabilities, they are much 

more injurious. (See Residential Building Fires Involving Individuals 

with Mental Disabilities, Vol. 12, Issue 5.)
TFRS Volume 12, Issue 6/Residential Building Fires Involving Individuals with Physical Disabilities Page 3

Table 3. Loss Measures for Residential Building Fires Involving Individuals 

with Physical Disabilities (3-year average, 2007–2009)

Measure Loss for Fires

Average Loss:

Fatalities/1,000 fires 188.2

Injuries/1,000 fires 232.9

Dollar loss/fire $32,060

Source: NFIRS 5.0.

Note: 1) Average loss for fatalities and injuries is computed per 1,000 fires; average dollar loss is computed per fire and is rounded to the nearest $10. 

 2) Dollar loss is converted to $2009.

When Residential Building Fires Involving 

Individuals with Physical Disabilities 

Occur

As shown in Figure 1, fires involving individuals with physical disabilities show a tendency to occur more frequently 

in the late afternoon to early evening hours. Cooking fires, 

the leading cause of fires involving individuals with physical disabilities (Figure 3), are typically prevalent during this 

time. Between 2007 and 2009, reported residential fires that 

involved people with physical disabilities peaked between 5 

and 6 p.m., with a second peak between 7 and 8 p.m. Fire 

incidence was at its lowest during the early and midmorning hours between 3 and 8 a.m.10

Figure 1. Residential Building Fires Involving Individuals with Physical Disabilities 

by Time of Alarm (2007–2009)

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

11PM-Mid

10PM-11PM

9PM-10PM

1PM-2PM

2PM-3PM

3PM-4PM

4PM-5PM

5PM-6PM

6PM-7PM

7PM-8PM

8PM-9PM

12PM-1PM

10AM-11AM

11AM-12PM

9AM-10AM

Mid-1AM

1AM-2AM

2AM-3AM

3AM-4AM

4AM-5AM

5AM-6AM

6AM-7AM

7AM-8AM

8AM-9AM

Time of Alarm

Percent of Residential Building Fires 

Involving Individuals with Physical Disabilities

4.5

3.1 3.1

2.8

2.5 2.7 2.8

2.1

3.3

3.9

5.1

3.9

6.3

5.3

4.1

3.3

3.0

5.5

5.0

5.4

6.0

6.8

5.2

4.6

Source: NFIRS 5.0.

Figure 2 illustrates the residential building fire profile, by 

month, for fires involving individuals with physical disabilities. These fires peak in the winter months of December 

(10 percent) and January (12 percent). The increase in fires 

during January is partially a result of cooking and smokingrelated fires. The lowest numbers of fire incidents occur in 

June and July.
TFRS Volume 12, Issue 6/Residential Building Fires Involving Individuals with Physical Disabilities Page 4

Figure 2. Residential Building Fires Involving Individuals with Physical Disabilities by Month 

(2007–2009)

Month of Year 

Percent of Residential Building 

Fires Involving Individuals

with Physical Disabilities

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

12.0

November

December

October

September

August

July

April

May

June

March

February

January

11.6

9.0 8.3 8.9 9.3

6.6 6.5

7.4 6.8 7.1

8.3

10.2

Source: NFIRS 5.0.

Causes of Residential Building Fires 

Involving Individuals with Physical 

Disabilities

Forty-three percent of fires involving individuals with physical disabilities are the result of cooking fires (22 percent) 

and smoking-related fires (21 percent) as shown in Figure 

3. The next three leading causes of these fires combined 

account for an additional 32 percent: other unintentional, 

careless actions (12 percent), open flames (12 percent), and 

other heat (8 percent).11

Figure 3. Residential Building Fires Involving Individuals with Physical Disabilities by Cause 

(2007–2009)

0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0 25.0

Unknown

Investigation with Arson Module

Other Unintentional, Careless

Equipment Misoperation, Failure

Exposure

Natural

Other Equipment

Other Heat

Open Flame

Appliances

Electrical Malfunction

Cooking

Heating

Smoking

Playing with Heat Source

Intentional

Percent of Residential 

Building Fires 

Involving Individuals 

with Physical 

Disabilities with 

Cause Determined

Percent of All 

Residential Building 

Fires Involving 

Individuals with 

Physical Disabilities

3.5

3.0

0.9

0.7

20.5

17.5

3.6

3.1

22.1

18.9

5.7

4.8

2.6

2.2

12.1

10.3

7.9

6.8

0.8

0.7

0.7

0.6

0.1

0.1

5.6

12.3

10.5

1.7

1.4

4.8

14.7 

Percent of Residential Building Fires Involving Individuals with Physical Disabilities

Causes Source: NFIRS 5.0.

Note: Causes are listed in order of the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) Cause Hierarchy for ease of comparison of fire causes across different aspects of the fire problem. Fires are 

assigned to 1 of 16 cause groupings using a hierarchy of definitions, approximately as shown in the chart above. A fire is included in the highest category into which it fits. If it does 

not fit the top category, then the second one is considered, and if not that one, the third, and so on. For example, if the fire is judged to be intentionally set and a match was used 

to ignite it, it is classified as intentional and not open flame because intentional is higher in the hierarchy.
TFRS Volume 12, Issue 6/Residential Building Fires Involving Individuals with Physical Disabilities Page 5

Heat Source in Residential Building 

Fires Involving Individuals with Physical 

Disabilities

Figure 4 shows sources of heat categories in fires involving individuals with physical disabilities. The “heat from 

powered equipment” category accounts for 42 percent of 

fires involving people with physical disabilities. Within this 

category, radiated or conducted heat from operating equipment accounts for 18 percent and heat from unspecified 

powered equipment accounts for 14 percent of fires involving individuals with physical disabilities. 

The “heat from open flame or smoking materials” category 

accounts for 35 percent of all fires involving individuals 

with physical disabilities. Cigarettes account for 20 percent, 

and lighters, candles, and heat from other open flames 

account for 4 percent each.

The heat source was coded as “undetermined” in 19 percent of all fires involving people with physical disabilities.

Figure 4. Heat Source for Residential Building Fires Involving Individuals with Physical 

Disabilities (2007–2009)

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0

Undetermined

Explosive, fireworks

Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions

Chemical, natural heat source

Heat spread from another fire

Other heat source

Hot or smoldering object

Heat from open flame or smoking materials

Heat from powered equipment

Percent of Residential Building Fires Involving 

Individuals with Physical Disabilities with Heat 

Source Determined

Percent of All Residential Building Fires 

Involving Individuals with Physical Disabilities

42.0

34.2

35.3

28.7

13.6

11.1

5.4

4.4

2.5

2.0

0.6

0.5

0.3

0.2

0.3

0.2

18.7

Percent of Residential Building Fires Involving Individuals with Physical Disabilities

Source: NFIRS 5.0.

Fire Spread in Residential Building 

Fires Involving Individuals with Physical 

Disabilities

Fires involving individuals with physical disabilities are 

largely confined to the room of origin (65 percent), either 

confined to the object of origin (34 percent), or spreading 

beyond the object but still confined to the room of origin 

(31 percent). This is not surprising since the leading cause 

of fires involving people with physical disabilities is cooking; 96 percent of cooking fires are confined to the object 

or room of origin, the kitchen.

Ninety-six percent of fires involving people with physical 

disabilities never extend beyond the building of origin 

(Figure 5).

Figure 5. Extent of Residential Building Fire Spread in Fires Involving Individuals with 

Physical Disabilities (2007–2009)

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0

Beyond building of origin

Confined to building of origin

Confined to floor of origin

Confined to room of origin

Confined to object of origin

Percent of Residential Building Fires Involving Individuals with Physical Disabilities

33.9

30.6

23.8

7.8

3.9

Source: NFIRS 5.0.
TFRS Volume 12, Issue 6/Residential Building Fires Involving Individuals with Physical Disabilities Page 6

Where Residential Building Fires Involving 

Individuals with Physical Disabilities Start 

(Area of Origin)

As shown in Table 4, kitchens are the most common area 

of origin for fires involving individuals with physical 

disabilities (38 percent). Bedrooms account for an additional 24 percent of the fires. The next three leading areas 

of origin account for an additional 24 percent: common 

rooms including dens, family rooms, living rooms, and 

lounges (14 percent), other functional areas (7 percent), and 

bathrooms, checkrooms, and lavatories (3 percent).

Table 4. Leading Areas of Fire Origin in Residential Building Fires Involving Individuals 

with Physical Disabilities (2007–2009)

Areas of Fire Origin Percent of Fires (Unknowns Apportioned)

Cooking area, kitchen 37.6

Bedrooms 23.5

Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge 13.8

Function areas, other 6.9

Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory 3.1

Source: NFIRS 5.0.

Factors Contributing to Ignition in 

Residential Building Fires Involving 

Individuals with Physical Disabilities

Table 5 shows the categories of factors contributing to ignition in fires involving individuals with physical disabilities. 

By far, the leading category for fires involving people with 

physical disabilities is “misuse of material or product” (62 

percent). Heat source too close to combustibles (24 percent 

of all fires involving individuals with physical disabilities), 

abandoned or discarded materials or products (17 percent), 

misuse of materials or products, other (16 percent) and 

playing with heat source (2 percent) account for the majority of fires in this category.

The “operational deficiency” category is the second most 

common contributing factor in fires involving individuals 

with physical disabilities (23 percent). Equipment unattended (11 percent), accidentally turned on, not turned off 

(4 percent), failure to clean (2 percent), and equipment not 

operated properly (2 percent) comprise the majority of fires 

in this category.

The third and fourth most common categories of factors 

contributing to the ignition of fires involving people with 

physical disabilities are “other factors contributing to ignition” (9 percent) and “electrical failure, malfunction” (8 

percent). 

Table 5. Factors Contributing to Ignition for Residential Building Fires Involving 

Individuals with Physical Disabilities by Major Category 

(Where Factors Contributing to Ignition Specified, 2007–2009)

Factors Contributing to Ignition Category Percent of Fires

Misuse of material or product 62.3

Operational deficiency 22.7

Other factors contributing to ignition 9.3

Electrical failure, malfunction 7.7

Mechanical failure, malfunction 2.7

Fire spread or control 1.8

Design, manufacture, installation deficiency 1.0

Natural condition 0.4

Source: NFIRS 5.0.

Notes: 1) Includes only incidents where factors that contributed to the ignition of the fire were specified.

 2) Multiple factors contributing to fire ignition may be noted for each incident; total will exceed 100 percent. 
TFRS Volume 12, Issue 6/Residential Building Fires Involving Individuals with Physical Disabilities Page 7

Alerting/Suppression Systems in 

Residential Building Fires Involving 

Individuals with Physical Disabilities

Smoke Alarm Data

Smoke alarm data presented in Tables 6 and 7 are the 

raw counts from the NFIRS data set and are not scaled 

to national estimates of smoke alarms in fires involving 

individuals with physical disabilities. In addition, NFIRS 

does not allow for the determination of the type of smoke 

alarm—that is, if the smoke alarm was photoelectric or 

ionization, or the location of the smoke alarm with respect 

to the area of fire origin.

Overall, smoke alarms were present in 51 percent of fires 

involving individuals with physical disabilities. In 17 

percent of fires involving people with physical disabilities, 

there were no smoke alarms present and in 22 percent of 

fires, firefighters were unable to determine if a smoke alarm 

was present (Table 6). 

Table 6. NFIRS Smoke Alarm Presence in Fires Involving Individuals with 

Physical Disabilities (NFIRS, 2007–2009)

Presence of Smoke Alarms

Fires

Count Percent

Present 679 50.5

None present 229 17.0

Undetermined 289 21.5

Null/Blank 147 10.9

Total Incidents 1,344 100.0

Source: NFIRS 5.0.

Notes: The data presented in this table are raw data counts from the NFIRS data set. They do not represent national estimates of smoke alarms in fires involving individuals with physical disabilities. They are presented 

for informational purposes. Total will not add to 100 percent due to rounding.

Smoke Alarms in Occupied Housing

Smoke alarms provide early warning in the event of a fire, 

giving occupants the opportunity to escape. Because the 

effectiveness of smoke alarms is measured by the building occupants’ hearing and responding to the alarms, the 

analysis of effectiveness (or performance) of smoke alarms 

is thus limited to occupied housing.12

Smoke alarms were reported as present in 57 percent of fires 

involving individuals with physical disabilities in occupied 

housing (Table 7). Smoke alarms are known to have operated 

in 36 percent of fires involving people with physical disabilities in occupied housing and were known to be absent in 

18 percent. Firefighters were unable to determine if a smoke 

alarm was present in another 24 percent of these fires.

When operational status is considered for fires involving 

individuals with physical disabilities in occupied housing, 

the percentage of smoke alarms reported as present (57 

percent) consists of:

•	 smoke alarms present and operated—36 percent;

•	 present, but did not operate—11 percent (fire too small, 

3 percent; alarm did not operate, 8 percent); and

•	 present, but operational status unknown—10 percent. 

When the subset of incidents where smoke alarms were 

reported as present is analyzed separately, smoke alarms 

were reported to have operated in 63 percent of the incidents. The alarms did not operate, however, in 19 percent 

of the incidents (in 14 percent of the incidents, the alarm 

failed to operate; in 5 percent, the fire was too small to 

activate the alarm). The operational status of the alarm was 

undetermined in an additional 18 percent of the incidents.
TFRS Volume 12, Issue 6/Residential Building Fires Involving Individuals with Physical Disabilities Page 8

Table 7. NFIRS Smoke Alarm Data for Residential Building Fires Involving Individuals with 

Physical Disabilities in Occupied Housing (NFIRS, 2007–2009) 

Presence of 

Smoke Alarms Smoke Alarm Operational Status Smoke Alarm Effectiveness Count Percent

Present

Fire too small to activate smoke alarm 33 2.9

Smoke alarm operated

Smoke alarm alerted occupants, occupants responded

Smoke alarm alerted occupants, occupants failed to respond

No occupants

304

51

6

26.5

4.4

0.5

Smoke alarm failed to alert occupants 13 1.1

Undetermined 42 3.7

Smoke alarm failed to operate 91 7.9

Undetermined 118 10.3

None present 209 18.2

Undetermined 280 24.4

Total Incidents 1,147 100.0

Source: NFIRS 5.0.

Notes: The data presented in this table are raw data counts from the NFIRS data set. They do not represent national estimates of smoke alarms in residential building fires involving individuals with physical disabilities. 

They are presented for informational purposes. Total will not add to 100 percent due to rounding.

Automatic Extinguishment System Data

Overall, full or partial automatic extinguishing systems 

(AESs), mainly sprinklers, were present in 8 percent of fires 

involving individuals with physical disabilities (Table 8). 

The small number of suppression equipment (sprinklers) in 

these fires is not unexpected as sprinklers are largely absent 

nationwide in residential buildings. Note that the data presented in Table 8 are the raw counts from the NFIRS data 

set and are not scaled to national estimates of AES in fires 

involving people with physical disabilities.

Table 8. NFIRS Automatic Extinguishing System Presence in Residential Building Fires 

Involving Individuals with Physical Disabilities (2007–2009)

Presence of Automatic Extinguishing Systems Count

Fires

Percent

AES present 107 8.0

Partial system present 2 0.1

AES not present 1,027 76.4

Unknown 61 4.5

Null/Blank 147 10.9

Total Incidents 1,344 100.0

Source: NFIRS 5.0.

Notes: The data presented in this table are raw data counts from the NFIRS data set. They do not represent national estimates of AESs in residential building fires involving individuals with physical disabilities. They 

are presented for informational purposes. Total will not add to 100 percent due to rounding.

NFIRS Data Specifications for Residential 

Building Fires Involving Individuals with 

Physical Disabilities

Data for this report were extracted from the NFIRS annual 

Public Data Release (PDR) files for 2007, 2008, and 2009. 

Only version 5.0 data were extracted.

Residential building fires involving individuals with physical disabilities are defined as:

•	 Aid Types 3 (mutual aid given) and 4 (automatic 

aid given) are excluded to avoid double counting of 

incidents.
TFRS Volume 12, Issue 6/Residential Building Fires Involving Individuals with Physical Disabilities Page 9

•	 Incident Types 111 to 123:

Incident 

Type Description

111 Building fire

112 Fires in structure other than in a building

113 Cooking fire, confined to container

114 Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue

115 Incinerator overload or malfunction, fire confined

116 Fuel burner/boiler malfunction, fire confined

117 Commercial compactor fire, confined to rubbish

118 Trash or rubbish fire, contained

120 Fire in mobile property used as a fixed structure, other

121 Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence

122 Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle

123 Fire in portable building, fixed location

Incident Type 112 is included prior to 2008 as previous analyses have shown that Incident Types 111 and 

112 were used interchangeably. As of 2008 and 2009, 

Incident Type 112 is excluded. 

Note that Incident Types 113 to 118 do not specify if the

structure is a building.

•	 Property use 400-464 is included to specify residential 

buildings: 

Property Description Use

400 Residential, other

419 One- or two-family dwelling

429 Multifamily dwelling

439 Boarding/Rooming house, residential hotels

449 Hotel/Motel, commercial

459 Residential board and care

460 Dormitory-type residence, other

462 Sorority house, fraternity house

464 Barracks, dormitory

•	 Structure Type:

– For Incident Types 113–118:

▪ 1—Enclosed building,

▪ 2—Fixed portable or mobile structure, and

▪ Structure Type not specified (null entry).

– For Incident Types 111, 112, and 120–123:

▪ 1—Enclosed building, and

▪ 2—Fixed portable or mobile structure.

•	 Human Factor Contributing to Ignition Code 5 “physically disabled” was used to define fires involving individuals with physical disabilities. 

The analyses contained in this report reflect the current 

methodologies used by the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA). 

The USFA is committed to providing the best and most current information on the United States fire problem, continually examining its data and methodology to fulfill this 

goal. Because of this commitment, data collection strategies 

and methodological changes are possible and do occur. As 

a result, analyses and estimates of the fire problem may 

change slightly over time. Previous analyses and estimates 

on specific issues (or similar issues) may have used different 

methodologies or data definitions and may not be directly 

comparable to the current ones.

To request additional information or to comment on this 

report, visit http://www.usfa.fema.gov/applications/

feedback/index.jsp

Notes:

1 National estimates are based on 2007–2009 native version 5.0 data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System 

(NFIRS), residential structure fire loss estimates from the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA’s) annual surveys of 

fire loss, and the U.S. Fire Administration’s (USFA’s) residential building fire loss estimates. Fires are rounded to the nearest 

100, deaths to the nearest 5, injuries to the nearest 25, and loss to the nearest $million.

2 In NFIRS, version 5.0, a structure is a constructed item of which a building is one type. In previous versions of NFIRS, the 

term “residential structure” commonly referred to buildings where people live. To coincide with this concept, the definition 

of a residential structure fire for NFIRS 5.0 has, therefore, changed to include only those fires where the NFIRS 5.0 Structure 

Type is 1 or 2 (enclosed building and fixed portable or mobile structure) with a residential property use. Such fires are 

referred to as “residential buildings” to distinguish these buildings from other structures on residential properties that may 

include fences, sheds, and other uninhabitable structures. Confined fire incidents that have a residential property use, but do 

not have a structure type specified are presumed to be buildings. Nonconfined fire incidents without a structure type specified are considered to be invalid incidents (structure type is a required field) and are not included.
TFRS Volume 12, Issue 6/Residential Building Fires Involving Individuals with Physical Disabilities Page 10

3 Residential buildings include, but are not limited to, one- or two-family dwellings, multifamily dwellings, boarding 

houses or residential hotels, commercial hotels, college dormitories, and sorority/fraternity houses.

4 In approximately 8 percent of residential building fires where a physical disability was noted as a human factor contributing to ignition of the fire, a mental disability was also noted.

5 Mark A. Brown, “Fire Suppression Operations in Buildings Equipped with an “Area of Rescue Assistance,” Concord 

Department of Fire and Life Safety, December 1, 2005. http://www.ci.concord.nc.us/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=TfBCh6hZMA

Q%3D&tabid=166&mid=540 (accessed December 3, 2010).

6 “Rescue Assistance Made Easy,” securitymagazine.com, June 11, 2003. http://www.securitymagazine.com/Articles/

Technologies/f505c1ad744d8010VgnVCM100000f932a8c0____ (accessed December 3, 2010).

7 In NFIRS, confined fires are defined by Incident Type codes 113 to 118.

8 NFIRS distinguishes between “content” and “property” loss. Content loss includes loss to the contents of a structure due 

to damage by fire, smoke, water, and overhaul. Property loss includes losses to the structure itself or to the property itself. 

Total loss is the sum of the content loss and the property loss. For confined fires, the expectation is that the fire did not 

spread beyond the container (or rubbish for Incident Type 118) and hence, there was no property damage (damage to the 

structure itself) from the flames. There could be, however, property damage as a result of smoke, water, and overhaul.

9 The average fire death and fire injury loss rates computed from the national estimates will not agree with average fire 

death and fire injury loss rates computed from NFIRS data alone. The fire death rate computed from national estimates for 

people with physical disabilities would be (1,000*(160/700)) = 228.6 deaths per 1,000 residential building fires involving 

individuals with physical disabilities. The fire injury rate would be (1,000*(200/700)) = 285.7 injuries per 1,000 residential 

building fires involving individuals with physical disabilities. 

10 For the purposes of this report, the time of the fire alarm is used as an approximation for the general time the fire 

started. However, in NFIRS, it is the time the fire was reported to the fire department.

11 The USFA cause hierarchy was used to determine the cause of fire incidents involving individuals with physical disabilities: http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/fireservice/nfirs/tools/fire_cause_category_matrix.shtm.

12 Analyses of smoke alarm performance and effectiveness in unoccupied residential buildings have shown a large number of 

“undetermined” entries. These undetermined entries are wholly logical if no occupants were present to acknowledge or 

respond to the alarms. The “undetermined” entries, however, muddy analyses of the data; analyses of only occupied residential buildings helps address this analytic problem.