Facts + Statistics: Fire

Year	Property loss ($ millions)	Loss per capita (2)
2014	$21,801	$68.47
2015	19,759	61.60
2016	23,789	73.63
2017	36,510	112.30
2018	46,972	143.72
2019	31,614	96.29
2020	38,537	116.22
2021	44,228	133.18
2022	45,106	135.04
2023	48,880	145.13

(1) Including allowances for FAIR Plan and uninsured losses. (2) Calculated by the Insurance Information Institute using ISO property loss and population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division. Source: ISO®, a Verisk Analytics® business; U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division.

		Direct property damage (2) ($ billions)				Direct property damage (2) ($ billions)
Year	Number of fires	As reported	In 2024 dollars (3)	Year	Number of fires	As reported	In 2024 dollars (3)
2014	494,000	$9.8	$12.9	2019	481,500	$12.3	$15.1
2015	501,500	10.3	13.6	2020	490,500	12.1	14.7
2016	475,500	7.8	10.2	2021	486,500	12.7	14.6
2017	499,000	10.7	13.8	2022	522,500	15.0	15.9
2018	499,000	11.1	13.9	2023	470,000	14.7	15.1

(1) Estimates based on data reported by fire departments responding to the 2023 National Fire Experience Survey. May exclude reports from some fire departments. (2) Does not include damage from major wildfires. (3) Calculated from unrounded numbers by the Insurance Information Institute using the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics' Inflation Calculator. Source: Reproduced with permission from Fire Loss in the United States During 2023 by Shelby Hall and Ben Evarts, ©2024 National Fire Protection Association www.nfpa.org.

Property use	Fires	Property loss (2) ($ millions)
Structures	470,000	$14,688
Residential	352,000	11,398
Home	332,000	11,021
One- and two-family homes (3)	255,500	8,675
Apartments and other multi-family	76,500	2,346
Other residential structures (4)	20,000	377
Non-residential (5)	118,000	3,290
Vehicle fire	210,500	2,599
Highway vehicle fire	180,000	1,961
Other vehicle fire	30,500	638
Outside and other fire	708,500	5,933 (9)
Fire outside but no vehicle (6)	84,500	214
Fires in brush, grass, or wildlands (7)	287,000	(8)
Outside rubbish fire	248,500	(8)
All other fire	88,500	219
Total	1,389,000	$23,219 (9)

(1) Estimates based on data reported by fire departments responding to the 2023 National Fire Experience Survey. May exclude reports from some fire departments. (2) Includes overall direct property loss to contents, structures, vehicles, machinery, vegetation or any other property involved in a fire. Excludes indirect losses, such as business interruption or temporary shelter costs. (3) Includes manufactured homes. (4) Includes hotels and motels, dormitories, rooming houses, residential board and care properties, and other residential properties. (5) Public assembly, educational, institutional, retail, office, manufacturing, and industrial or utility properties. (6) Outside storage, crops, timber, etc. (7) Excludes crops and timber, with no value or loss involved. (8) Property damage is not captured for brush, grass, or wildland fires with no loss or outside rubbish fires. (9) Includes $5.5 billion property loss estimate from the wildfires predominantly on the island of Maui in Hawaii in August of 2023. Source: Reproduced with permission from Fire Loss in the United States During 2023 by Shelby Hall and Ben Evarts, ©2024 National Fire Protection Association www.nfpa.org.

Rank	State	Month	Type of facility	Estimated loss
1	Kansas	April	Gas distribution system building	$200.0
2	California	July	Wildfire/urban interface	200.0
3	Oregon	February	Food processing plant	100.0
4	Michigan	February	Country club	80.0
5	California	September	Wildfire/urban interface	75.0
6	Oklahoma	February	Apartment building under construction	65.2
7	Utah	October	Apartment building under construction	55.0
8	Ohio	May	Natural gas plant	45.0
9	California	April	Food processing facility	45.0
10	Illinois	February	Document storage warehouse	38.0

(1) Large-loss fires of $20 million or more in 2022. Note: Loss data shown here may differ from figures shown elsewhere for the same event due to differences in the date of publication, the geographical area covered and other criteria used by organizations collecting the data. Source: Reproduced with permission from Large-Loss Fires and Explosions in the United States in 2022 by Stephen G. Badger, ©2024 National Fire Protection Association www.nfpa.org.

			Estimated loss (1)
Rank	Date	Location/event	Dollars when occurred	In 2020 dollars (2)
1	Sep. 11, 2001	World Trade Center (terrorist attacks)	$33,400	$48,900 (3)
2	Oct. 8, 2017	Northern CA Wildland Urban Interface fire	10,000	10,600
3	Apr. 18, 1906	San Francisco Earthquake and Fire	350	10,100
4	Nov. 8, 2018	Camp Wildland Urban Interface fire	8,500	8,700
5	Aug, 2021	“Siege” wildfire, Northern California (4)	4,200	4,200
6	Oct. 8-9, 1871	Great Chicago Fire	168	3,600
7	July, 2021	Navy ship under repair, San Diego, California	3,000	3,000
8	Nov. 8, 2018	Woolsey Wildland Urban Interface fire	2,900	3,000
9	Oct. 20, 1991	Oakland, CA, firestorm, Wildland Urban Interface fire	1,500	2,900
10	Oct. 20, 2007	San Diego County, CA, The Southern California Firestorm	1,800	2,200

(1) Loss estimates are from National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) records. The list is limited to fires for which some reliable dollar loss estimates exists.
(2) Adjustment to 2020 dollars made by the National Fire Protection Association using the Consumer Price Index.
(3) Differs from inflation-adjusted estimates made by other organizations due to the use of different collection criteria and deflators.
(4) Includes multiple fires.

Source: ©National Fire Protection Association. www.nfpa.org/research/reports-and-statistics.

Rank (2)	Month	State	Type of facility	Deaths
1	March	Oklahoma	Single-family home	6
1	April	Virginia	Single-family home	6
1	December	Georgia	Single-family home	6
2	January	Georgia	Single-family home	5
2	January	Illinois	4-unit apartment building	5
2	March	Arkansas	2-story apartment building	5
2	August	Illinois	2-story apartment building	5
2	September	Ohio	Single-family home	5
2	September	California	Single-family home	5
2	November	New York	3-unit apartment building	5
3	November	Texas	Barn/workshop	3
3	December	Maine	Vacant single-family home	3
3	May	Illinois	Campsite	3
3	July	Michigan	Boat	3

(1) Fires or explosions that kill five or more people in residential property, or three or more people in nonhome or nonstructural property.
(2) Fires with the same number of deaths receive the same rank.

Source: National Fire Protection Association. www.nfpa.org.

Rank	Date	Location/event	Deaths
1	Sep. 11, 2001	New York, NY, World Trade Center terrorist attack	2,666 (2)
2	Apr. 27, 1865	Mississippi River, SS Sultana steamship	1,547
3	Oct. 8, 1871	Peshtigo, WI, forest fire	1,152
4	Jun. 15, 1904	New York, NY, General Slocum steamship	1,030
5	Dec. 30, 1903	Chicago, IL, Iroquois Theater	602
6	Oct. 12, 1918	Cloquet, MN, forest fire	559
7	Nov. 28, 1942	Boston, MA, Cocoanut Grove night club	492
8	Apr. 16, 1947	Texas City, TX, SS Grandcamp and Monsanto Chemical Co. plant	468
9	Sep. 1, 1894	Hinckley, MN, forest fire	418
10	Dec. 6, 1907	Monongha, WV, coal mine explosion	361

(1) Fires that kill five or more people in home property, or three or more people in nonhome or nonstructural property.
(2) Revised to 2,976 by government officials. 

Source: Reproduced with permission, © 2020, National Fire Protection Association www.nfpa.org.

Rank	Date	Event	Location	Fatalities
1	Sep. 11, 2001	The World Trade Center	New York, NY	2,666
2	Dec. 30, 1903	Iroquois Theatre	Chicago, IL	602
3	Nov. 28, 1942	Cocoanut Grove night club	Boston, MA	492
4	Apr. 21, 1930	Ohio State Penitentiary	Columbus, OH	320
5	Mar. 18, 1937	Consolidated School gas explosion	New London, TX	294
6	Dec. 5, 1876	Conway's Theatre	Brooklyn, NY	285
7	Apr. 23, 1940	Rhythm Club	Natchez, MS	207
8	Mar. 4, 1908	Lakeview Grammar School	Collinwood, OH	175
9	Jan. 12, 1908	Rhodes Opera House	Boyertown, PA	170
10	Jul. 6, 1944	Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus	Hartford, CT	168
10	Apr. 19, 1995	Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building	Oklahoma City, OK	168
12	May 28, 1977	Beverly Hills Supper Club	Southgate, KY	165
13	Mar. 25, 1911	Triangle Shirtwaist Company	New York, NY	146
14	Apr. 10, 1917	Eddystone Ammunition Company plant explosion	Eddystone, PA	133
15	May 15, 1929	Cleveland Clinic Hospital	Cleveland, OH	125
16	Dec. 7, 1946	Winecoff Hotel	Atlanta, GA	119
17	Feb. 20, 2003	The Station Nightclub	W. Warwick, RI	100
18	Dec. 1, 1958	Our Lady of the Angels School	Chicago, IL	95
19	Mar. 25, 1990	Happy Land Social Club	New York, NY	87
20	Nov. 21, 1980	MGM Grand Hotel	Las Vegas, NV	85

(1) Based on deadliest single-builiding or complex fires and explosions.

Source: National Fire Protection Association.