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# Residential Building Cause-Under-Investigation Fire Trends (2012‑2021)

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## Main content

##### In this section

                - Reports
                - Death & Injury Risk
                - Residential Fires                   - Causes
                  - Deaths
                  - Injuries
                  - Dollar Loss
                  - Cause Under Investigation
                  - Cooking
                  - Electrical Malfunction
                  - Heating
                  - Intentional
                  - Open Flame
                  - Smoking
                  - Unintentional/Careless
                - Nonresidential Fires
                - Outside & Vehicle Fires
                - Firefighter Fatalities
                - Fire Department Registry
                - State Statistics
                - Data Sets

## National estimates

The 2021 national estimates for residential building cause-under-investigation fires and losses show that there were:
              - 5,200 fires.
              - 470 deaths.
              - 575 injuries.
              - $531,300,000 in dollar loss.

## Overall trends

Overall trends for residential building cause-under-investigation fires and losses for the 10-year period of 2012 to 2021 show the following:
              - An 11% increase in fires.
              - An 83% increase in deaths.  In 2019, there were 10 reported multifatality fire incidents, 18 in 2020 and 11 in 2021. These multifatality fire incidents may have contributed to the increase in the estimates of fire deaths.
              - A 41% increase in injuries.  In 2020, 36 reported multiple injury fire incidents may have contributed to the increase in the estimate of fire injuries.
              - A 12% increase in dollar loss.  This overall constant dollar-loss trend takes inflation into account by adjusting each year's dollar loss to its equivalent 2021 value.

## Fires, deaths, injuries and dollar loss

              - Fires
              - Deaths
              - Injuries
              - $ Loss

### Residential building cause-under-investigation fires

                    - View data in a table
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### Residential building cause-under-investigation fire deaths

                    - View data in a table
                    -  Download chart

### Residential building cause-under-investigation fire injuries

                    - View data in a table
                    -  Download chart

### Residential building cause-under-investigation fire dollar loss

                    - View data in a table
                    -  Download chart

Fire estimate summaries present basic data on the size and status of the fire problem in the U.S. as depicted through data reported to the U.S. Fire Administration's (USFA's) National Fire Incident Reporting System from incidents reported by local response agencies. Each Fire Estimate Summary addresses the size of the specific fire or fire-related issue and highlights important trends in the data.

Fire estimate summaries are based on the USFA's National Estimates Methodology for Building Fires and Losses PDF. The USFA is committed to providing the best and most current information on the U.S. fire problem and continually examines data received from participating fire departments and the analytical methods used to fulfill this goal. Because of this commitment, data collection strategies and methodological changes are possible and do occur. Previous estimates on specific issues (or similar issues) may have used different methodologies or data definitions and, therefore, may not be directly comparable to current estimates.

Page last reviewed: April 28, 2023

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