Safety Topics

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) estimates that in the United States:

• A fire department responds to a fire every 23 seconds
• One home structure fire was reported every 96 seconds
• One home fire-related injury occurs every 59 minutes
• One home fire-related death occurs every 3 hours

In 2024, 1,388,000 fires resulted in 3,920 civilian deaths and 11,780 injuries. In addition, there were 62 firefighter deaths. This firefighter fatal injury count is a decrease from the 90 fatal injuries in 2023.

Although the number of fire-related deaths has decreased by 40% since 1980, 2024 marks a 37% increase from the record low number of deaths recorded by NFPA in 2012 (2,855). The 2024 civilian fire death toll of 3,920 is up 6.8% from the 3,670 total in 2023. The graph below shows the vast majority of these deaths resulted from home fires.

One- and two-family home fires account for 65.8% of civilian deaths and 56.3% of injuries. Apartment structure fires account for 8.7% of deaths and 19.4% of injuries. Although the number of home fire deaths is down since 1980, data suggest that less progress has been made in regard to the rates of deaths. For overall home fires, the 2024 rate of 8.9 deaths per 1,000 reported home fires is 2% higher than the rate of 8.7 in 2023 and 25% higher than the rate of 7.1 in 1980.

Source: Hall, S. (November 2025). Fire loss in the United States During 2024. Quincy, MA: National Fire Protection Association.

Campbell, R. & Petrillo, J.T. (June 2025). Firefighter Fatalities in the US in 2024. Quincy, MA: National Fire Protection Association.