Monday January 14, 2019

Heating Equipment Fires at 52K/Year, Says NFPA

There was an estimated annual average for 2012-2016 of just above 52,000 fires involving heating equipment and getting emergency response, according to a recent report by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). Those events led to annual averages of about 490 deaths, 1,400 civilian injuries, and $1.03 billion in property damage.

NFPA additionally looked at how nine product categories contributed to percentages of the four outcomes:

Space Heaters: Fires (44%), deaths (86%), injuries (78%), damage costs (54%).

Fireplaces/Chimneys: Fires (32%), deaths (7%), injuries (6%), damage costs (25%).

Central Heating: Fires (12%), deaths (2%), injuries (6%), damage costs (7%).

Water Heaters: Fires (10%), deaths (1%), injuries (9%), damage costs (9%).

Heat Lamps: Fires (2%), deaths (3%), injuries (1%), damage costs (5%).

Heat Tape: Fires (0%), deaths (0%), injuries (0%), damage costs (1%).

Steamline/Heat Pipe/Hot Air Duct: Fires (0%), deaths (0%), injuries (0%), damage costs (0%).

Confined Fuel Burner/Boiler: Fires (2%), deaths (0%), injuries (0%), damage costs (0%).

Confined Chimney/Flue: Fires (1%), deaths (0%), injuries (0%), damage costs (0%).

The percentages above are rounded by NFPA, so "0%" does not necessarily indicate zero incidents. For example, NFPA estimates an annual average of 230 fires involving heat tape, but that is only 0.004% of the total. More details are in a data supplement to the report at bit.ly/2Rio4lg.

The main report (bit.ly/2D1wMLT) finds a falling trend in home heating fires from roughly 73,600 in 2002 to about 44,900 in 2016. The 52,000 average for 2012-2016 reflects a bump up in 2013-2014. On the decline, NFPA wrote:

"Improvements in safety standards, such as those requiring automatic cut-off devices that turn off electric or kerosene space heaters when tipped over and more guarding around heating coils of electric heaters and burners of kerosene heaters, are likely to contribute to the decline."