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# Residential Building Fire Injury 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 fire injuries show that there were:
              - 3,000 cooking fire injuries.
              - 1,700 other unintentional, careless fire injuries.
              - 975 open-flame fire injuries.
              - 900 electrical malfunction fire injuries.

## Overall trends

Overall trends in the leading fire injury 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 32% decrease in residential cooking fire injuries.
              - A 77% increase in residential other unintentionally or carelessly set fire injuries.  In 2020 and 2021, 64 and 68 reported multiple injury fire incidents, respectively, may have contributed to the increase in the estimate of fire injuries. The 2020 multiple injury fire incidents included a high-rise apartment building fire in Bronx, New York, with 29 injuries.
              - A 13% decrease in residential open-flame fire injuries.
              - An 8% decrease in residential electrical malfunction fire injuries.

### Leading causes of residential building fire injuries (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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