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Holiday Fire Statistics
11/1/2017 (Permalink)
Having the holiday season fast approaching the need to remind everyone of home fire safety.. Please make this holiday season SAFE AND FUN..
Home Fire statistics are an important way to stay safe this holiday season. Knowing where most problems stem from can lead to more attention being paid to those areas or activities .We have borrowed this information from NFPA ( National Fire Protection Association). Hoping to keep you safe and secure this Holiday season
Christmas trees
- Between 2010-2014, U.S. fire departments responded to an average of 210 home fires that started with Christmas trees per year. These fires caused an average of 6 deaths, 16 injuries, and $16.2 million in direct property damage annually.
- On average, one of every 34 reported home fires that began with a Christmas tree resulted in a death, compared to an average of one death per 142 total reported home fires.
- Some type of electrical distribution or lighting equipment was involved in one-third (35%) of home Christmas tree fires.
- Twenty-three percent of Christmas tree fires were intentional.
- Two of every five (38%) home Christmas tree fires started in the living room, family room, or den.Holiday decorations
- A live Christmas tree burn conducted by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) shows just how quickly a dried out Christmas tree fire burns, with flashover occurring in less than one minute, as compared to a well-watered tree, which burns at a much slower rate.
- U.S. fire departments responded to an estimated average of 860 home structure fires per year that began with decorations, excluding Christmas trees, in 2009-2013. These fires caused an annual average of one civilian fire death, 41 civilian fire injuries and $13.4 million in direct property damage.
- Ten percent of decoration fires were intentional.
- The decoration was too close to a heat source such as a candle or equipment in nearly half (45%) of the fires.
- One-fifth (20%) of the decoration fires started in the kitchen. One out of six (17%) started in the living room, family room or den.
- One-fifth (20%) of the home decoration fires occurred in December.
- Candles
- Candles started 38% of home decoration structure fires.
- Half (51%) of the December home decoration fires were started by candles, compared to one-third (35%) in January to November.
- The top three days for home candle fires were Christmas, New Year’s Day, and Christmas Eve.Holiday cooking
- Source: NFPA's "Home Structure Fires Involving Decorations" report
- Thanksgiving is the peak day for home cooking fires, followed by Christmas Day and Christmas Eve.
- Cooking equipment was involved in 18% of home decoration fires. This can happen when a decoration is left on or too close to a stove or other cooking equipment.Fireworks
- Source: NFPA's "Home Fires Involving Cooking Equipment" report
- Ten percent of fireworks fires occur during the period from December 30 through January 3, with the peak on New Year's Day. http://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/By-topic/Seasonal-fires/Winter-holiday-safety/Holiday-fires-by-the-numbers
- Check out more helpful information and videos here.
- Source: NFPA's "Fireworks" report
Check out more helpful information and videos here.