NFPA Journal - September/October 2020 - 75

Firefighters at the scene of a fire at a commercial
occupancy in California. Last year, non-residential
structure fires accounted for 9 percent of all fires, but
resulted in 29 percent of all direct property damage.
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fire deaths and injuries were 47 percent
and 38 percent lower, respectively. The
population-based decreases over that
period were even greater. The one home
structure fire per thousand population
in 2019 was 70 percent lower than the
rate of 3.2 such fires in 1980. The 8.4
civilian home fire deaths per million
population was 63 percent lower than
the rate of 23.0 rate 40 years earlier. The
trend line for reduction in home fire
death rate and total fire death rate is
very similar.
In 2019, the 264,500 (20 percent)
one- or two-family home structure fires
caused 2,390 (65 percent) civilian fire
deaths, 8,800 (53 percent) civilian fire
injuries, and $6.4 billion (43 percent) in
direct property damage. From 2018 to
2019, fires in one- or two-family homes
fell 6 percent while deaths rose 1 percent, injuries jumped 13 percent, and
property damage was down 1 percent.
The estimate of structure fires in oneor two-family homes was 55 percent
lower in 2019 than in 1980.
Less progress has been made in
reducing fire deaths in one- or two-family homes than in other structures. The
estimate of deaths caused by one- or

two-family home fires was only 43 percent lower in 2019 than in 1980. The
injury estimate was 45 percent lower.
The 75,000 (6 percent) apartment or
other multifamily housing fires caused
380 (10 percent) civilian fire deaths,
3,400 (20 percent) civilian fire injuries,
and $1.3 billion (9 percent) in direct
property damage. From 2018 to 2019,
apartment fires fell 13 percent, while
apartment fire deaths rose 6 percent,
injuries were basically unchanged, and
property damage fell 12 percent. The
decrease in apartment fires was statistically significant.
The estimate of apartment structure
fires was 48 percent lower in 2019
than in 1980, while apartment fire
deaths and apartment fire injuries
were 63 percent and 6 percent lower,
respectively. In 1980, only 15 percent
of structure fire injuries were in apartments, the lowest percentage seen over
the past four decades. In recent years,
roughly one-quarter of structure fire
injuries occurred in apartments.
Less progress has been made in
reducing deaths and injuries in
reported home fires. In 1980, there
were 7.1 deaths per 1,000 reported

home fires overall. This was also true
for one- or two-family homes and apartments. Forty years later, the death rate
per 1,000 fires had fallen 29 percent
to 5.1 for apartment fires, increased 15
percent to 8.2 in overall home fires,
and climbed even more to 9 deaths per
1,000 fires in one- or two-family homes.
While rates fluctuated, there was only
one year in which the death rate per
1,000 one- or two-family home fires was
lower than it was in 1980. Apartment
fire death rates had a fairly consistent
downward trend. In most years, the
rate for overall homes was higher than
in 1980, due to the larger share of oneand two-family homes.
The 2019 rate of 45.3 civilian injuries
per 1,000 apartment fires was 81 percent higher than the 1980 rate of 25.1.
For one- or two-family home fires, the
2019 rate of 33.3 injuries per 1,000 fires
was 22 percent higher than the 1980
rate of 27.3. The 35.9 injuries per 1,000
home fires overall in 2019 was 34 percent higher than the 26.8 rate in 1980.

Non-home structure fires
In 2019, an estimated 22,000 (2 percent) structure fires occurred in other
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NFPA Journal - September/October 2020

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