Fire statistics published

The National Fire Protection Agency has published findings from their report on the United States fire loss for 2007 in the NFPA Journal. According to the report, fires killed one person every two and a half hours last year.

Fire departments responded to 1.6 million fires, the lowest total since 2004. Although the number of fires declined, fire deaths and injuries increased. Home fire deaths accounted for more than eight in 10 of all fire deaths. In 2007, fires caused an estimated $14 billion in property damage, a nearly 30 percent increase from 2006.

Other findings from the report:

•Almost 1.6 million were attended by public fire departments, a decrease of 5.2 percent from the year before.

•530,500 fires occurred in structures, an increase of 1.2 percent.

•414,000 fires, or 78 percent of all structure fires, occurred in residential properties.

•Every 20 seconds a fire department responds to a fire somewhere in the nation. Structure fires occur at the rate of one every 59 seconds. A residential fire occurs every 76 seconds. Fires occur in vehicles at the rate of one every 122 seconds, and fires on outside property occur every 41 seconds.

•3,430 civilian deaths occurred in 2007, an increase of 5.7 percent.

•About 84 percent of all fire deaths occurred in the home, an increase of 11 percent.

•365 civilians died in highway vehicle fires, a decrease of 18 percent.

•105 civilians died in nonresidential structure fires.

•17,675 civilian fire injuries occurred, an increase of 7.8 percent.

•14,000 injuries occurred in residential properties.

•1,350 injuries occurred in nonresidential structure fires.

•Nationwide, there was a civilian residential fire injury every 30 minutes.

•An estimated $14.6 billion in property damage occurred as a result of fire in 2007, an increase of 29.5 percent in 2006. The figure includes the California Fire Storm with an estimated $1.8 billion in property damage.

•$10.6 billion of property damage occurred in structure fires, excluding structures associated with the California Fire Storm.

•$7.5 billion of property loss occurred in residential properties, an increase of 8 percent.

For more information, visit www.nfpa.org.