Fire Facts
- Every day 1500 homes burn
- Every year 6500 people die in house fires
- Every year 280,000 people are injured in house fires
- The majority of house fires occur at night
- Cooking is the leading cause of home fires in North America
- 1/5 of all home fires in the USA start in the kitchen
- Most home heating fires involve portable heaters
- 1 out of 8 fire deaths results from motor vehicle fires
- 600 people are killed and 2600 civilians and 1200 fire fighters are injured each year from motor vehicle fires.
- Nearly 25% of the fires that kill young children are set by children themselves playing with fire.
- In 1993, 700 deaths occured from accidental Carbon Monoxide (CO) poisoning
- Almost 1 in 5 fires are automobile fires
- Each year, careless smokers start roughly 30,000 home fires, causing more than 1000 deaths and hundreds of millions of dollars in property loss.
- Fire prevention week was inspired by the Great Chicago fire of October 9, 1871, which took 250 lives and destroyed 17,430 buildings.
- In 1911, on the 40th anniversary of the Great Chicago fire, the Fire Marshal's Association of North America proclaimed the countrys first fire prtevetion day to promote public awareness of fire safety.
- In 1922, President Warren G. Harding designated the entire week containing October 9th as National Fire Prevention Week.
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Last updated March 16, 2002