U.S. Fire Administration/National Fire Data Center 

National Estimates 

Methodology for Building 

Fires and Losses 

August 2012 
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U.S. Fire Administration 

Mission Statement 

We provide National leadership to foster a solid foundation for our fire and emergency services stakeholders in 

prevention, preparedness, and response. 
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Table of Contents
 

Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 1
 

National Estimates Overview........................................................................................................................... 1
 

Structures Versus Buildings ............................................................................................................................. 2
 

National Building Fire and Loss Estimates ...................................................................................................... 2
 

Residential Buildings.................................................................................................................................... 4
 

National Residential Building Fire and Loss Estimates..................................................................................................4
 

National Residential Building Fire and Loss Estimates by Major Property Use....................................................................5
 

National Residential Building Fire and Loss Estimates by Fire Cause ...............................................................................6
 

National Estimates of Major Residential Building Property Use Categories by Cause............................................................7
 

Nonresidential Buildings.............................................................................................................................. 7
 

National Nonresidential Building Fire and Loss Estimates .............................................................................................7
 

National Nonresidential Building Fire and Loss Estimates by Major Property Use ...............................................................9
 

National Nonresidential Building Fire and Loss Estimates by Fire Cause......................................................................... 10
 

National Estimates of Major Nonresidential Building Property Use Categories by Cause ..................................................... 11
 

Attachment: Consumer Price Index (CPI) Conversion Table.........................................................................12
 
U.S. Fire Administration National Estimates Methodology for Building Fires and Losses 

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1 

Introduction
 

This documentation details the U.S. Fire Administration’s (USFA’s) current fire data estimation methodology 

for all building (i.e., residential and nonresidential) fires and associated losses. The documentation consists of 

three sections: 

•	 An overview of national estimates that defines what national estimates are; describes the overall approach 

and methodology used to derive them; and summarizes the basic issues with this current, accepted approach. This national estimates methodology serves as the basis for the computation of USFA’s building 

fire estimates. 

•	 A discussion of what is meant by “buildings” versus “structures” and the implications these classifications have on deriving estimates of the fire problem that are meaningful to the public and prevention 

efforts. 

•	 A step-by-step methodology which describes how USFA computes national estimates of building fires 

and associated losses using data from USFA’s National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) and estimates from the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA’s) annual Survey of Fire Departments for U.S. 

Fire Experience. Formulas for each type of estimate, 32 in all, are given. 

The methodology outlined is a critical component of the USFA’s analysis of the United States fire problem. 

USFA uses the national building fire estimates in the Fire Estimate Summary Series, Topical Fire Report Series, 

and various other fire data reports. 

National Estimates Overview 

National estimates are estimates of the numbers of fire losses (fires, deaths, injuries, dollar loss) associated with 

a subset of the fire data. High level summary national estimates of the numbers for fires, deaths, injuries, and 

dollar loss are based on NFPA’s annual Survey of Fire Departments for U.S. Fire Experience. With the exception of the NFPA estimates for total fires, structure (i.e., residential and nonresidential) fires, vehicle, outside, 

and other fires, all other estimates are scaled-up national estimates or percentages, not just the raw totals from 

NFIRS. Because the NFIRS 5.0 data are not based on a statistically selected sample and do not represent a 

“complete” census of fire incidents, the raw NFIRS data must be scaled up to national estimates. These estimates are based on a method of apportioning the NFPA estimates for total fires, structure, vehicle, outside, and 

other fires.1

 Generally speaking, the national estimates are derived by computing a percentage of fires, deaths, 

injuries, or dollar loss in a particular NFIRS category and multiplying it by the corresponding total estimate 

from the NFPA annual survey.2

 This methodology is the accepted practice of national fire data analysts. 

Ideally, one would like to have all of the data come from one consistent data source. Because the “residential 

population protected” is not reported to NFIRS by many fire departments and the reliability of that data element is suspect in many other cases, especially where a county or other jurisdiction is served by several fire 

departments that each report their population protected independently, this data element is not used. Instead, 

extrapolations of the NFIRS sample to national estimates are made using the NFPA survey for the gross totals of 

fires, deaths, injuries, and dollar loss. 

1

 National estimates are based on “The National Estimates Approach to U.S. Fire Statistics” by Hall and Harwood: http://www.nfpa.org/assets/ 

files/PDF/Research/Nationalestimates.pdf. 

2

 The NFPA summary estimates are used for the overall U.S. fire losses; fire losses from structure, vehicle, outside, and other fires; and as the 

basis for USFA’s estimates of residential and nonresidential building fires. The alternative approach for these summary numbers is to use the 

relative percentage of fires (or other loss measures) from NFIRS and scale up (multiply by) the NFPA estimate of total fires. 
One problem with this approach is that the proportions of fires and fire losses differ between the large NFIRS 

sample and the NFPA survey sample.3

 Nonetheless, to be consistent with approaches being used by other fire 

data analysts, the NFPA estimates of fires, deaths, injuries, and dollar loss are used as a starting point. The details of the fire problem below this level are based on proportions from NFIRS. Because the proportions of fires 

and fire losses differ between NFIRS and the NFPA estimates, from time to time, this approach leads to minor 

inconsistencies. These inconsistencies will remain until all estimates can be derived from NFIRS data alone. 

Structures Versus Buildings 

NFIRS 5.0 allows for the differentiation between buildings and nonbuildings. In NFIRS, a structure is a built 

object and can include platforms, tents, connective structures (e.g., bridges, fences), telephone poles, and various other structures in addition to buildings. Analyses of NFIRS structure fires show that, by and large, the 

majority (93 percent) of structure fires occurs in buildings. 

The distinction between buildings and nonbuildings is particularly important when determining the effectiveness of nonbehavior-based fire safety mechanisms such as smoke alarms and residential sprinklers. These 

important components of early fire detection apply to buildings and not necessarily to these other types of 

structures. To facilitate analysis of these components and to acknowledge that prevention efforts generally 

are centered on buildings, USFA separates buildings from the rest of the structures. For these reasons, USFA 

focuses on producing building fire and loss estimates. 

National Building Fire and Loss Estimates 

The following methodology describes how USFA computes national estimates of building fires and associated 

losses using data from the NFIRS and estimates from the NFPA’s annual Survey of Fire Departments for U.S. 

Fire Experience.4 

To compute the annual national estimate of building fires,5 the following formula is used: 

Formula 1 

National Estimate of Building Fires = 

NFIRS raw count of building fires 

NFIRS raw count of structure fires * NFPA estimate of structure fires 

Formula 1 is modified to compute national estimates of building fire deaths and fire injuries. For example, to 

compute the national estimate of building fire deaths, replace the term “fires” with “fire deaths” in formula 1. 

To compute the annual national estimate of building fire deaths and injuries,6

 the following formulas are used: 

3

 These differences are discussed in Appendix A of USFA’s report: “Fire in the United States (2003–2007) 15th Edition”—http://www.usfa.fema. 

gov/downloads/pdf/statistics/fa_325.pdf. Better estimates of fire loss measures from NFIRS will not be available until a more robust method of 

estimation is developed. 

4

 NFPA’s annual survey estimates of the fire problem are available at: http://www.nfpa.org/categoryList.asp?categoryID=951&URL=Research/ 

Fire%20statistics. 

5

 For definitions of NFIRS building fires and NFIRS structure fires, please see the USFA’s National Fire Incident Reporting System Version 5.0 Fire 

Data Analysis Guidelines and Issues documentation: http://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/nfirs_data_analysis_guidelines_ 

issues.pdf. 

6

 For definitions of NFIRS fire deaths and injuries, please see the USFA’s National Fire Incident Reporting System Version 5.0 Fire Data Analysis 

Guidelines and Issues documentation: http://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/nfirs_data_analysis_guidelines_issues.pdf. 

2 U.S. Fire Administration National Estimates Methodology for Building Fires and Losses 
Formula 2 

National Estimate of Building Fire Deaths = 

NFIRS raw count of building fire deaths 

* NFPA estimate of structure fire deaths 

NFIRS raw count of structure fire deaths 

Formula 3 

National Estimate of Building Fire Injuries = 

NFIRS raw count of building fire injuries 

* NFPA estimate of structure fire injuries NFIRS raw count of structure fire injuries 

The following formula illustrates the computation of building fire dollar-loss estimates: 

Formula 4 

National Estimate of Building Fire Dollar Loss = 

NFIRS raw summation of building fire $ loss 

* NFPA estimate of structure fire $ loss * CPI conversion NFIRS raw summation of structure fire $ loss 

For USFA’s estimates of building fire dollar loss, USFA adjusts prior year dollar loss for inflation to the current 

year dollar loss using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) conversion.7 The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) defines 

the CPI as a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services.8

 The CPI conversion value for the current year data is equal to 1.0. The 

Attachment at the end of this document includes the CPI conversion table for 1990–2010. 

For presentation of results, USFA rounds estimates of building fires to the nearest 100 fires. National estimates 

of fire deaths are rounded to the nearest 5 deaths and fire injuries are rounded to the nearest 25 injuries. National estimates of building fire dollar loss are rounded to the nearest 100,000 dollars. For subsequent calculations using national estimates of building fires, USFA uses unrounded estimates. 

7

 Total fire dollar loss is defined in the USFA’s National Fire Incident Reporting System Version 5.0 Fire Data Analysis Guidelines and Issues documentation: http://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/nfirs_data_analysis_guidelines_issues.pdf. 

8

 U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics: http://www.bls.gov/cpi/home.htm. 

3 
Residential Buildings 

National Residential Building Fire and Loss Estimates 

The following methodology describes how USFA computes national estimates of residential building fires using data from NFIRS and estimates from the NFPA’s annual survey. In this section, formulas 1–4 are modified 

to compute national estimates of residential building fires and accompanying losses by adding the term “residential” to each component of the formulas. 

To compute the annual national estimate of residential building fires,9 the following formula is used: 

Formula 5 

National Estimate of Residential Building Fires = 

NFIRS raw count of residential building fires 

* NFPA estimate of residential structure fires 

NFIRS raw count of residential structure fires 

To compute the annual national estimate of residential building fire deaths and injuries, the following formulas are used: 

Formula 6 

National Estimate of Residential Building Fire Deaths = 

NFIRS raw count of residential building fire deaths 

* NFPA estimate of residential structure fire deaths 

NFIRS raw count of residential structure fire deaths 

Formula 7 

National Estimate of Residential Building Fire Injuries = 

NFIRS raw count of residential building fire injuries 

* NFPA estimate of residential structure fire injuries NFIRS raw count of residential structure fire injuries 

The following formula illustrates the computation of residential building fire dollar-loss estimates: 

Formula 8 

National Estimate of Residential Building Fire Dollar Loss = 

NFIRS raw summation of residential building fire $ loss 

* NFPA estimate of residential structure fire $ loss * CPI conversion NFIRS raw summation of residential structure fire $ loss 

USFA rounds estimates of residential building fires to the nearest 100 fires. For residential buildings, national 

estimates of fire deaths are rounded to the nearest 5 deaths, fire injuries are rounded to the nearest 25 injuries, 

and fire dollar loss is rounded to the nearest 100,000 dollars. 

9

 For definitions of NFIRS residential building fires and NFIRS residential structure fires, please see the USFA’s National Fire Incident Reporting 

System Version 5.0 Fire Data Analysis Guidelines and Issues documentation: http://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/nfirs_data_ 

analysis_guidelines_issues.pdf. 

4 U.S. Fire Administration National Estimates Methodology for Building Fires and Losses 
National Residential Building Fire and Loss Estimates by Major Property Use 

Residential building fire and loss estimates for one- and two-family residences, multifamily residences, and 

other residences are computed based on the overall residential building fire and loss estimates computed in the 

previous section.10 

To compute the annual national estimate of one- and two-family building fires, the following formula is used: 

Formula 9 

National Estimate of One- and Two-Family Residential Building Fires = 

NFIRS raw count of one- and two-family residential building fires 

* National estimate of residential building fires NFIRS raw count of residential building fires 

Note: For consistency, USFA uses the unrounded national estimate of residential building fires in the above 

formula. This is true for all of the remaining formulas used to compute residential estimates. 

To compute the annual national estimate of one- and two-family building fire deaths, the following formula is used: 

Formula 10 

National Estimate of One- and Two-Family Residential Building Fire Deaths = 

NFIRS raw count of one- and two-family residential building fire deaths 

* National estimate of residential building fire deaths NFIRS raw count of residential building fire deaths 

Formula 10 can be modified to compute the national estimate of one- and two-family building fire injuries by 

substituting the term “fire injuries” for “fire deaths” as follows: 

Formula 11 

National Estimate of One- and Two-Family Residential Building Fire Injuries = 

NFIRS raw count of one- and two-family residential building fire injuries 

* National estimate of residential building fire injuries NFIRS raw count of residential building fire injuries 

The following formula illustrates the computation of national one- and two-family building fire dollar-loss estimates: 

Formula 12 

National Estimate of One- and Two-Family Residential Building Fire Dollar Loss = 

NFIRS raw summation of one-and two-family residential building fire $ loss 

* National estimate of residential building fire $ loss NFIRS raw summation of residential building fire $ loss 

Note: Formula 12 does not require the CPI adjustment since it was already applied in computing the national 

estimate of residential building fire dollar loss. 

10 One- and two-family, multifamily, and other residential building fires are defined in the USFA’s National Fire Incident Reporting System Version 5.0 Fire Data Analysis Guidelines and Issues documentation: http://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/nfirs_data_analysis_ 

guidelines_issues.pdf. 

5 
Formulas 9–12 can also be used to compute the national estimates of multifamily residential building and other 

residential building fires, deaths, injuries, and dollar loss by substituting the appropriate property use designation for “one- and two-family residential buildings” in the numerator of each formula. USFA rounds estimates 

of one- and two-family, multifamily, and other residential building fires to the nearest 100 fires. Estimates of 

deaths are rounded to the nearest 5, injuries to the nearest 25, and dollar loss to the nearest 100,000 dollars. 

National Residential Building Fire and Loss Estimates by Fire Cause 

As part of USFA’s Fire Estimate Summary Series, estimates of fire causes are computed for residential buildings. 

USFA’s structure fire cause methodology is used to determine the cause of residential building fires and losses. 

A detailed description of the structure fire cause methodology can be found at: http://www.usfa.fema.gov/ 

fireservice/nfirs/tools/fire_cause_category_matrix.shtm. 

Based on the structure fire cause methodology, fires are assigned to 1 of 16 mid-level, mutually exclusive categories of fire causes such as heating, cooking, smoking, and playing with a heat source, to name a few. Additionally, there is an unknown cause category for fires whose causes were not reported to NFIRS. 

In making national estimates, fires with unknown causes should not be ignored. The approach taken by USFA 

is to compute “adjusted” percentages using only those incidents for which causal data were provided. This 

calculation, in effect, distributes the fires for which the cause data are unknown in the same proportion as the 

fires for which the causes are known, which may or may not be approximately right. 

The following general formula can be used to compute the annual national estimate of residential building 

fires with a specific fire cause: 

Formula 13 

National Estimate of Residential Building Fires with Specified Cause = 

NFIRS raw count of residential building fires with specified cause 

* National estimate of residential building fires NFIRS raw count of residential building fires with known cause 

Formula 13 can be modified to compute the national estimates of residential building fires for each of the 

cause categories. For example, to determine the national estimate of residential building cooking fires, the 

formula is modified as shown: 

Formula 14 

National Estimate of Residential Building Cooking Fires = 

NFIRS raw count of residential building cooking fires 

* National estimate of residential building fires NFIRS raw count of residential building fires with known cause 

Formula 13 can also be modified to compute national estimates of residential building fire deaths, injuries, and 

related dollar loss by various fire causes. For example, to determine the national estimate of residential smoking fire deaths, the following formula can be used: 

Formula 15 

National Estimate of Residential Building Smoking Fire Deaths = 

NFIRS raw count of residential building smoking fire deaths 

* National estimate of residential building fire deaths NFIRS raw count of residential building fire deaths with known cause 

6 U.S. Fire Administration National Estimates Methodology for Building Fires and Losses 
To determine the national estimate of residential building heating fire injuries, the following formula can be used: 

Formula 16 

National Estimate of Residential Building Heating Fire Injuries = 

NFIRS raw count of residential building heating fire injuries 

* National estimate of residential building fire injuries NFIRS raw count of residential building fire injuries with known cause 

The following formula illustrates the computation of national residential building intentional fire dollar-loss estimates: 

Formula 17 

National Estimate of Residential Building Intentional Fire Dollar Loss = 

NFIRS raw summation of residential building intentional fire $ loss National estimate of residential building fire $ loss NFIRS raw summation of residential building fire $ loss with known cause * 

Note: Formula 17 does not require the CPI adjustment since it was already applied in computing the national 

estimate of residential building fire dollar loss. 

National estimates of residential building fires with a specific cause are rounded to the nearest 100 fires, deaths 

to the nearest 5, injuries to the nearest 25, and dollar loss to the nearest 100,000 dollars. 

National Estimates of Major Residential Building Property Use Categories by Cause 

Formulas 13–17 can also be customized to compute national estimates of the major residential property use 

categories for fires, deaths, injuries, and dollar loss by cause. For example, to compute the national estimate of 

intentional fires in multifamily buildings, use the following formula: 

Formula 18 

National Estimate of Multifamily Building Intentional Fires = 

NFIRS raw count of multifamily building intentional fires 

* National estimate of multifamily building fires NFIRS raw count of multifamily building fires with known cause 

For national estimates of the major residential property use categories by cause, fires are rounded to the nearest 

100 fires, deaths and injuries to the nearest 5, and dollar loss to the nearest 100,000 dollars. National injury 

estimates computed at this level are rounded to the nearest 5 injuries so that when summing over the cause 

categories, estimates will be closer to the total rounded estimate for a particular property use category. It is 

important to note that when computing dollar loss for prior year data, USFA adjusts prior year dollar loss for 

inflation to the current year dollar loss using the CPI conversion. 

Nonresidential Buildings 

National Nonresidential Building Fire and Loss Estimates 

The following methodology describes how USFA computes national estimates of nonresidential building fires 

using data from NFIRS and estimates from the NFPA’s annual survey. In this section, formulas 1–4 are modified to compute national estimates of nonresidential building fires and accompanying losses by adding the 

term “nonresidential” to each component of the formulas. 

7 
To compute the annual national estimate of nonresidential building fires,11 the following formula is used: 

Formula 19 

National Estimate of Nonresidential Building Fires = 

NFIRS raw count of nonresidential building fires 

* NFPA estimate of nonresidential structure fires 

NFIRS raw count of nonresidential structure fires 

To compute the annual national estimate of nonresidential building fire deaths and injuries, the following 

formulas are used: 

Formula 20 

National Estimate of Nonresidential Building Fire Deaths = 

NFIRS raw count of nonresidential building fire deaths 

* NFPA estimate of nonresidential structure fire deaths 

NFIRS raw count of nonresidential structure fire deaths 

Formula 21 

National Estimate of Nonresidential Building Fire Injuries = 

NFIRS raw count of nonresidential building fire injuries 

* NFPA estimate of nonresidential structure fire injuries NFIRS raw count of nonresidential structure fire injuries 

The following formula illustrates the computation of nonresidential building fire-dollar loss estimates. 

Formula 22 

National Estimate of Nonresidential Building Fire Dollar Loss = 

NFIRS raw summation of nonresidential building fire $ loss 

* NFPA estimate of nonresidential structure fire $ loss * CPI conversion NFIRS raw summation of nonresidential structure fire $ loss 

For USFA’s estimates of nonresidential building fire dollar loss, USFA adjusts prior year dollar loss for inflation 

to the current year dollar loss using the CPI conversion. The CPI conversion value for the current year data is 

equal to 1.0. 

USFA rounds national estimates of nonresidential building fires to the nearest 100 fires. National estimates of 

nonresidential building fire deaths are rounded to the nearest 5 deaths, fire injuries are rounded to the nearest 

25 injuries, and dollar loss is rounded to the nearest 100,000 dollars. 

11 For definitions of NFIRS nonresidential building fires and NFIRS nonresidential structure fires, please see the USFA’s National Fire Incident 

Reporting System Version 5.0 Fire Data Analysis Guidelines and Issues documentation: http://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/ 

nfirs_data_analysis_guidelines_issues.pdf. 

8 U.S. Fire Administration National Estimates Methodology for Building Fires and Losses 
National Nonresidential Building Fire and Loss Estimates by Major Property Use 

Nonresidential building fire and loss estimates for various property use categories such as assembly, educational, medical facilities, etc., are computed based on the overall nonresidential building fire and loss estimates 

computed in the previous section.12 For example, the formula for the annual national estimate of assembly 

building fires is: 

Formula 23 

National Estimate of Assembly Building Fires = 

NFIRS raw count of assembly building fires National estimate of nonresidential building fires NFIRS raw count of nonresidential building fires * 

Note: For consistency, USFA uses the unrounded national estimate of nonresidential building fires in the 

above formula. This is true for all remaining formulas in the document as well. 

To compute the annual national estimate of assembly building fire deaths, the following formula is used: 

Formula 24 

National Estimate of Assembly Building Fire Deaths = 

NFIRS raw count of assembly building fire deaths National estimate of nonresidential building fire deaths NFIRS raw count of nonresidential building fire deaths * 

Formula 24 can be modified to compute the national estimate of assembly building fire injuries by substituting 

the term “fire injuries” for “fire deaths” as follows: 

Formula 25 

National Estimate of Assembly Building Fire Injuries = 

NFIRS raw count of assembly building fire injuries 

* National estimate of nonresidential building fire injuries NFIRS raw count of nonresidential building fire injuries 

To compute the national estimate of assembly building fire-dollar loss, the following formula is used: 

Formula 26 

National Estimate of Assembly Building Fire Dollar Loss = 

NFIRS raw summation of assembly building fire $ loss 

* National estimate of nonresidential building fire $ loss NFIRS raw summation of nonresidential building fire $ loss 

Note: Formula 26 does not require the CPI adjustment since it was already applied in computing the national 

estimate of nonresidential building fire dollar loss. 

12 Nonresidential building property use categories are defined in the USFA’s National Fire Incident Reporting System Version 5.0 Fire Data Analysis Guidelines and Issues documentation: http://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/nfirs_data_analysis_guidelines_issues.pdf. 

9 
Formulas 23–26 can also be used to compute the national estimates of nonresidential building fires, deaths, 

injuries, and dollar loss for the other property use categories by substituting the appropriate property use designation for “assembly building” in the numerator of each formula. USFA rounds estimates of nonresidential 

building fires by property use categories to the nearest 100 fires. Estimates of deaths are rounded to the nearest 5, injuries to the nearest 25, and dollar loss to the nearest 100,000 dollars. 

Note: Estimates of fire deaths with < 3 deaths indicate insufficient data are available to compute national 

level estimates. 

National Nonresidential Building Fire and Loss Estimates by Fire Cause 

As part of USFA’s Fire Estimate Summary Series, estimates of fire causes are also computed for nonresidential 

buildings. USFA’s structure fire cause methodology is used to determine the cause of nonresidential building 

fires and losses. As previously noted, the detailed description of the structure fire cause methodology can be 

found at: http://www.usfa.fema.gov/fireservice/nfirs/tools/fire_cause_category_matrix.shtm. 

The following general formula can be used to compute the annual national estimate of nonresidential building 

fires with a specific fire cause: 

Formula 27 

National Estimate of Nonresidential Building Fires with Specified Cause = 

NFIRS raw count of nonresidential building fires with specified cause 

* National estimate of nonresidential building fires NFIRS raw count of nonresidential building fires with known cause 

Formula 27 can be modified to compute the national estimates of residential building fires for each of the 

cause categories. For example, to determine the national estimate of nonresidential building cooking fires, the 

formula is modified as shown: 

Formula 28 

National Estimate of Nonresidential Building Cooking Fires = 

NFIRS raw count of nonresidential building cooking fires 

* National estimate of nonresidential building fires NFIRS raw count of nonresidential building fires with known cause 

Formula 27 can also be modified to compute national estimates of nonresidential building fire deaths, injuries, 

and related dollar loss by various fire causes. For example, to determine the national estimate of nonresidential smoking fire deaths, the following formula can be used: 

Formula 29 

National Estimate of Nonresidential Building Smoking Fire Deaths = 

NFIRS raw count of nonresidential building smoking fire deaths 

* National estimate of nonresidential building fire deaths NFIRS raw count of nonresidential building fire deaths with known cause 

10 U.S. Fire Administration National Estimates Methodology for Building Fires and Losses 
To determine the national estimate of nonresidential building heating fire injuries, the following formula can 

be used: 

Formula 30 

National Estimate of Nonresidential Building Heating Fire Injuries = 

NFIRS raw count of nonresidential building heating fire injuries 

* National estimate of nonresidential building fire injuries NFIRS raw count of nonresidential building fire injuries with known cause 

The following formula illustrates the computation of national nonresidential building intentional fire dollarloss estimates: 

Formula 31 

National Estimate of Nonresidential Building Intentional Fire Dollar Loss = 

NFIRS raw summation of nonresidential building intentional fire $ loss 

* National estimate of nonresidential building fire $ loss NFIRS raw summation of nonresidential building fire $ loss with known cause 

Note: Formula 31 does not require the CPI adjustment since it was already applied in computing the national 

estimate of nonresidential building fire dollar loss. 

National estimates of nonresidential building fires with a specific cause are rounded to the nearest 100 fires, 

deaths to the nearest 5, injuries to the nearest 25, and dollar loss to the nearest 100,000 dollars. 

Note: In USFA’s Fire Estimate Summary Series, deaths and injuries by individual causes are not produced, as 

small numbers of nonresidential building casualties are reported to NFIRS and a large number of the fires that 

caused these casualties have insufficient information to determine fire cause. 

National Estimates of Major Nonresidential Building Property Use Categories by Cause 

Formulas 27–31 can also be customized to compute national estimates of the major residential property use 

categories for fires, deaths, injuries, and dollar loss by cause. For example, to compute the national estimate of 

intentional fires in assembly buildings, use the following formula: 

Formula 32 

National Estimate of Assembly Building Intentional Fires = 

NFIRS raw count of assembly building intentional fires 

* National estimate of assembly building fires NFIRS raw count of assembly building fires with known cause 

For national estimates of the major nonresidential property use categories by cause, fires are rounded to the 

nearest 100 fires, deaths and injuries to the nearest 5, and dollar loss to the nearest 100,000 dollars. National 

injury estimates computed at this level are rounded to the nearest 5 injuries so that when summing over the 

cause categories, estimates will be closer to the total rounded estimate for a particular property use category. 

Note: In USFA’s Fire Estimate Summary Series, deaths and injuries by individual causes are not produced as 

small numbers of nonresidential building casualties are reported to NFIRS and a large number of the fires that 

caused these casualties have insufficient information to determine fire cause. Additionally, it is important to 

note that when computing dollar loss for prior year data, USFA adjusts prior year dollar loss for inflation to the 

current year dollar loss using the CPI conversion. 

11 
12 

Attachment: Consumer Price Index (CPI) Conversion Table
 

Year change index convert 

01 

convert 

02 

convert 

03 

convert 

04 

convert 

05 

convert 

06 

convert 

07 

convert 

08 

convert 

09 

convert 

10 

1990 130.7 1.3550 1.3764 1.4078 1.4453 1.4943 1.5425 1.5864 1.6473 1.6414 1.6684 

1991 136.2 1.3003 1.3209 1.3510 1.3869 1.4339 1.4802 1.5223 1.5808 1.5752 1.6010 

1992 140.3 1.2623 1.2823 1.3115 1.3464 1.3920 1.4369 1.4778 1.5346 1.5291 1.5542 

1993 144.5 1.2256 1.2450 1.2734 1.3073 1.3516 1.3952 1.4349 1.4900 1.4847 1.5090 

1994 2.6% 148.2 1.1950 1.2139 1.2416 1.2746 1.3178 1.3603 1.3991 1.4528 1.4476 1.4714 

1995 2.8% 152.4 1.1621 1.1804 1.2073 1.2395 1.2815 1.3228 1.3605 1.4127 1.4077 1.4308 

1996 3.0% 156.9 1.1287 1.1466 1.1727 1.2040 1.2447 1.2849 1.3215 1.3722 1.3673 1.3898 

1997 2.3% 160.5 1.1034 1.1209 1.1464 1.1769 1.2168 1.2561 1.2919 1.3415 1.3367 1.3586 

1998 1.6% 163.0 1.0865 1.1037 1.1288 1.1589 1.1982 1.2368 1.2720 1.3209 1.3162 1.3378 

1999 2.2% 166.6 1.0630 1.0798 1.1044 1.1339 1.1723 1.2101 1.2445 1.2923 1.2877 1.3089 

2000 3.4% 172.2 1.0285 1.0447 1.0685 1.0970 1.1341 1.1707 1.2041 1.2503 1.2459 1.2663 

2001 2.8% 177.1 1.0000 1.0158 1.0390 1.0666 1.1028 1.1383 1.1708 1.2157 1.2114 1.2313 

2002 1.6% 179.9 0.9844 1.0000 1.0228 1.0500 1.0856 1.1206 1.1525 1.1968 1.1925 1.2121 

2003 2.3% 184.0 0.9625 0.9777 1.0000 1.0266 1.0614 1.0957 1.1269 1.1701 1.1660 1.1851 

2004 2.7% 188.9 0.9375 0.9524 0.9741 1.0000 1.0339 1.0672 1.0976 1.1398 1.1357 1.1543 

2005 3.4% 195.3 0.9068 0.9211 0.9421 0.9672 1.0000 1.0323 1.0617 1.1024 1.0985 1.1165 

2006 3.2% 201.6 0.8785 0.8924 0.9127 0.9370 0.9688 1.0000 1.0285 1.0680 1.0642 1.0816 

2007 2.8% 207.342 0.8541 0.8676 0.8874 0.9111 0.9419 0.9723 1.0000 1.0384 1.0347 1.0517 

2008 3.8% 215.303 0.8226 0.8356 0.8546 0.8774 0.9071 0.9364 0.9630 1.0000 0.9964 1.0128 

2009 -0.4% 214.537 0.8255 0.8385 0.8577 0.8805 0.9103 0.9397 0.9665 1.0036 1.0000 1.0164 

2010 1.6% 218.056 0.8122 0.8250 0.8438 0.8663 0.8956 0.9245 0.9509 0.9874 0.9839 1.0000 

Source: http://www.bls.gov/cpi/cpi1998d.htm “How to Use the Consumer Price Index for Escalation.” Escalation agreements using the CPI usually involve changing the base payment by the percent 

change in the level of the CPI between the reference period and a subsequent time period. This is calculated by first determining the index point change between the two periods and then the 

percent change. The following example illustrates the computation of percent change: 

 CPI for current period 136 

 Less CPI for previous period 129.9 

 Equals index point change 6.1 

 Divided by previous period CPI 129.9 

 Equals 0.047 

 Result multiplied by 100 0.047 x 100 

 Equals percent change 4.7 

 Source: ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/cpi/cpiai.txt 

U.S. Fire Administration National Estimates Methodology for Building Fires and Losses