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# Residential Building Fire Causes (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 the leading causes of residential building fires show that there were:
              - 170,000 cooking fires.
              - 32,200 heating fires.
              - 29,800 other unintentional, careless fires.
              - 24,200 electrical malfunction fires.

## Overall trends

Overall trends in the leading fire causes for the 10-year period of 2012 to 2021 show the following:
              - Cooking as the leading cause of residential building fires for the 10-year period.
              -  A 4% decrease in residential cooking fires.
              -  A 37% decrease in residential heating fires.
              -  A 44% increase in residential other unintentionally or carelessly set fires.
              -  An 11% increase in residential electrical malfunction fires.

### Leading causes of residential building fires (2012-2021)

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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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