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# Residential Building Other Unintentional, Careless 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 other unintentional, careless fires and losses show that there were:
              - 29,800 fires.
              - 575 deaths.
              - 1,700 injuries.
              - $1,943,300,000 in dollar loss.

## Overall trends

Overall trends for residential building other unintentional, careless fires and losses for the 10-year period of 2012 to 2021 show the following:
              - A 44% increase in fires.
              - A 54% increase in deaths.  In 2018, there were 16 reported multifatality fire incidents, 18 in 2019, 9 in 2020 and 15 in 2021. These multifatality fire incidents may have contributed to the increase in the estimates of fire deaths.
              - A 77% increase in injuries.  In 2020 and 2021, 64 and 68 reported multiple injury fire incidents, respectively, may have contributed to the increase in the estimates of fire injuries. The 2020 multiple injury fire incidents included a high-rise apartment building fire in Bronx, New York, with 29 injuries.
              - A 58% increase in dollar loss. *  In 2018, there were 33 incidents with a reported dollar loss of $1,000,000 or more, 30 in 2019, 24 in 2020 and 42 in 2021. These incidents may have contributed to the continued increase in fire dollar loss. The 2021 high-dollar loss fires included a $20,000,000 large residential fire in Palo Alto, California.

## Fires, deaths, injuries and dollar loss

              - Fires
              - Deaths
              - Injuries
              - $ Loss

### Residential building other unintentional, careless fires

                    - View data in a table
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### Residential building other unintentional, careless fire deaths

                    - View data in a table
                    -  Download chart

### Residential building other unintentional, careless fire injuries

                    - View data in a table
                    -  Download chart

### Residential building other unintentional, careless 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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