Source: National Fire Protection Association Fire Loss in the U.S. During 2003 and USFA's Firefighter Fatalities in the United States in 2003

Juvenile Firesetters

Curious Kids Set Fires!
Do you know the signs to watch for?

Every child has the potential for exhibiting fire setting behavior. From curiosity to arson, this behavior is dangerous and needs education as well as intervention.

Children under the age of five are curious about fire. Parents seem to dismiss this as rarity and do nothing about it. Often, what begins as a natural exploration of the unknown can lead to tragedy! The fires start small and, without intervention, a tragic event will probably occur. This is the time for intervention and education. "Education is the Key to Prevention."

FACT: Children make up 20% of all fire deaths.
FACT: Over 30% of the fires that kill children are set by children playing with fire.
FACT: Children have "secret" places where they tend to start playing with matches and lighters. These places are often under the bed and in closets.
FACT: Juvenile firesetters are often not given the proper education and guidance from their parents.

You can read more about Juvenile Fire Setting by clicking here.

Firefighters

Career firefighters include full-time (career) uniformed firefighters regardless of assignments, e.g., suppression, prevention/inspection, administrative. Career firefighters included here work for a public municipal fire department; they do not include career firefighters who work for state or federal government or in private fire brigades.

Volunteer firefighters include any active part-time (call or volunteer) firefighters. Active volunteers are defined as being involved in fire fighting.

Estimated number of firefighters: 1,096,900 (career: 296,850, volunteer: 800,050)
Firefighters by age group: 16-19 (3.7%), 20-29 (20.8%), 30-39 (30.3%), 40-49 (26.9%), 50 and over (18.4%)
Seventy-four percent of career firefighters are in communities that protect a population of 25,000 or more.
Ninety-three percent of the volunteers are in departments that protect a population of 25,000 or less and more than 50% are located in small, rural departments that protect a population of 2,500 or less.

Source: National Fire Protection Association, U.S. Fire Department Profile

USFA Arson Fire Statistics

An estimated 37,500 intentionally set structure fires occurred in 2003.
Intentionally set fires in structures resulted in 305 civilian deaths.
Intentionally set structure fires also resulted in $692,000,000 in property loss.
30,500 intentionally set vehicle fires occurred, an decrease of 25.6% from a year ago, and caused $132,000,000 in property damage, an decrease of 40.5% from a year ago.

Fire Departments

Estimated number of fire departments in 2003: 30,524
Estimated number of stations in the United States for 2001-2003: 51,650
A fire department responds to a fire in the United States every 20.0 seconds

2003 RESPONSE BREAKDOWN
Response	Number	% Change from 2002
Fires	1,584,500	-6.1
Medical Aid	13,631,500	+5.6
False Alarms	2,189,500	+3.5
Mutual Aid/Assistance	987,000	+11.1
Hazmat	349,500	-3.2
Other Hazardous (Arcing wires, bomb removal, etc.)	660,500	+9.4
All Other (Smoke scares, lock-outs, etc.)	3,003,500	+9.5
TOTAL	22,406,000	+5.2

Fire department types*: Career (6.6%), Mostly Career (5.2%), Mostly Volunteer (17.3%), All Volunteer (70.9%)
12% of all departments are career or mostly career and protect 61% of the U.S. population
88% of fire departments are volunteer or mostly volunteer and protect 39% of the population

^* Career=100% career firefighters, Mostly Career=51%-99% career firefighters, Mostly Volunteer=1%-50% career firefighters, Volunteer=100% volunteer firefighters

Source: National Fire Protection Association reports Fire Loss in the United States During 2003 and U.S. Fire Department Profile Through 2003

National

The United States has a severe fire problem, more so than is generally perceived. Nationally, there are millions of fires, thousands of deaths, tens of thousands of injuries, and billions of dollar loss - which makes the U.S. fire problem one of great national importance. Between 1994 and 2003, an average of 4,060 Americans lost their lives and another 22,650 were injured annually as the result of fire. These averages do not reflect the events of September 11, 2001.

The following table shows the number of fires, deaths, injuries and dollar loss in the United States from 1994 to 2003.

National
Year	Fires	Deaths	Injuries	Direct Dollar Loss In Millions
1994	2,054,500	4,275	27,250	$8,630
1995	1,965,500	4,585	25,775	$9,182
1996	1,975,000	4,990	25,550	$9,406
1997	1,795,000	4,050	23,750	$8,525
1998	1,755,000	4,035	23,100	$8,629
1999	1,823,000	3,570	21,875	$10,024
2000	1,708,000	4,045	22350	$11,207
2001¹	1,734,500	3,745	20,300	$10,583
2001²	1,734,500	2,451	800	$33,440
2002	1,687,500	3,380	18,425	$10,337
2003	1,584,500	3,925	18,125	$12,307

¹ Excludes the events of September 11, 2001.

² These estimates reflect the number of deaths, injuries and dollar loss directly related to the events of September 11, 2001.

Where Fires Occurred - 2003

There were 1,584,500 fires in the United States. Of these:
- 47.5% were Outside and Other Fires
- 32.8% were Structure Fires
- 19.7% were Vehicle Fires
Residential fires represented 25.4 percent of all fires and 77.4 percent of structure fires.
The South had the highest fire death rate per-capita with 16.4 civilian deaths per million population.
80 percent of all civilian fire fatalities occurred in the home, where home is defined as one- and two-family dwellings and apartments. Of those, approximately 87 percent occurred in single-family homes and duplexes.
Intentionally set structure fires represented 8.0% of all structure property loss.
30,500 intentionally set vehicle fires occurred, causing an estimated $132 million in property damage.

Source: National Fire Protection Association Fire Loss in the U.S. During 2003

The Overall Fire Picture - 2003