Smoke alarms & fire -- statistics

Most consumers don't think about a fire until one happens. As part of its commitment to educating the public on fire safety and prevention, UL asks consumers to think about fire now to minimize the risk of it happening later-and to minimize the risk of injury or death if one happens.

Fire cause

• On average, candles caused 15,800 home fires from 2002 to 2005.
• Cooking-related incidents were the No. 1 cause of 2006 residential fires.

Fire impact

According to the U.S. Fire Administration, in 2006:

• 3,245 civilians died because of a fire.
• 16,400 civilians were injured because of a fire.
• Fire killed more Americans than all natural disasters combined.
• Direct property loss due to fires was estimated at $11.3 billion, a 15 percent increase from 2004.

Who is at risk?

• Children and adults age 65 and older are twice as likely to die in a fire as the average adult.
• Tip: Activate your smoke alarm while children are sleeping to determine how they respond to the alarm. Plan a fire escape plan to consider their needs.

The importance of working smoke alarms

• Fire deaths have been cut in half since smoke alarms were introduced in the late 1970s.
• An estimated 95 percent of U.S. homes have at least one smoke alarm.
• Two-thirds of reported residential fire deaths occurred in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms.
• Fire deaths in homes with working smoke alarms are 51 percent less than the death rate for homes without this protection.
• An estimated 20 percent of U.S. homes do not have working smoke alarms, primarily because of missing or dead batteries.
• Nuisance activations are the leading cause of disabled smoke alarms. In other words, "nuisance activations" occur when a smoke alarm detects steam from a shower or stove, thus falsely alerting residents of a fire. When this happens, most people take out the batteries, or disable the alarm.
• Tip: If your alarm sounds when it detects steam from a shower or food burning on the stove, consider moving it into an area adjacent to the bathroom or kitchen to prevent nuisance activations.
• Almost 900 lives could be saved each year if all homes had working smoke alarms.

Information gathered from the U.S. Fire Administration, National Fire Protection Association and a study conducted by the University of Washington and the Injury Prevention and Research Center.