Every 25 seconds, a fire department responds to a fire in the U.S.

September 9, 2014 – Every 25 seconds, a fire department responds to a fire somewhere in the U.S., according to a new report released by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). The report, "Fire Loss in the United States during 2013", provides a comprehensive look at fires in the U.S., including civilian fire deaths and injuries, property damage and intentionally set fires.
In 2013, there were:

• 1,240,000 fires responded to by public fire departments, a decrease of 9.8 percent from the year before
• 3,240 civilian deaths, an increase of 13.5 percent since 2012
• 15,925 injuries as a result of fire, a decrease of 3.5 percent.

The number of structure fires has steadily declined in recent years, from their peak in 1977 of 1,098,000 to 487,500 in 2013.

The number of reported fires in the United States fell to a historic low in 2013, and overall property damage due to fire declined from 2012—but civilian fire deaths increased.

Last year, there was:

• a civilian fire injury every 33 minutes
• a civilian fire death every 2 hours and 42 minutes
• a home fire every 85 seconds.

The majority of civilian fire injuries and deaths occurred at home or in homes, accounting for 79 percent of fire injuries and 85 percent of fire deaths.
Other key findings from the report:

• property damage of roughly $11.5 billion occurred as a result of fire
• $7 billion of property loss was from home fires
• intentionally set fires in structures decreased across the board, with a fall by 16.7 percent in civilian deaths and 0.7 percent reduction in property damage. 

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