Major causes of home fires

4/11/2017 (Permalink)

This room may not have been directly in the flames, but is covered in soot.

There are about 365,000 home fires every year, continuing a steady decline from the 1970’s, when there were about 723,000 home fires in the US.

Below is the list of causes of home fires in the US:

#5 Appliances.  They account for nearly 14,000* fires every year.  When was the last time you cleaned out the back of your dryer and not just the lint trap?

#4 Smoking.  Smoking accounts for more than 17,000* fires every year in the US.  If you must smoke, extinguish and properly discard your materials.

#3 Electrical.  Electrical fires account for more than 28,000* US home fires annually.  Is that old extension cord frayed or safe?

#2 Heating.  More than 57,000* US home fires are traced back to heating causes.  Space heaters placed too close to combustible objects are just one of the causes.  Fireplace rollouts are another cause.

#1 Cooking.  Cooking fires make up more than 160,000* fire calls each year in the US.  Unattended cooking is one of the major causes of this fire.

Ask yourself these questions:  Are all the smoke detectors in the house working properly?  When did I last test them or change the batteries?  When was the last time the fire extinguishers were checked?

* NFPA figures.