NFPA Journal - Summer 2022 - 92

NFPA Research The Reports
reported 2020 as one of
the worst fire years ever
experienced in that state.
The second fire with
more than $1 billion in
losses was an incendiary
fire on a Navy ship in port
for repairs and upgrades.
This blaze burned for four
23 of these occurred in
structures. Information on
fire detection equipment
was reported in 15 of those
fires. Of these 15, eight
properties had detection
equipment; five of these
systems operated, and
the operation of the other
three was not reported.
REPORT SUMMARY
Large-Loss Fires in the
United States in 2020
By Stephen G. Badger
L
arge-loss fires are an important part of the nation's
overall fire picture. These fires are defined as fires
or explosions that resulted in property damage
of at least $10 million. In 2020, 28 large-loss fires
and explosions in the United States resulted in an
estimated $8.1 billion in direct property damage and losses. The
costliest fire incident was a California wildfire known as the 2020
Fire Siege with a loss of $4.2 billion.
Of the 28 large-loss fires in 2020, 23 involved structures and
resulted in a total property loss of $822.6 million. There were five
nonstructural fires that resulted in a loss of $7.2 billion. Some of
the causes of the large-loss fires included deliberately set, improper
disposal of smoking materials, mechanical failure or part failure,
unattended cooking, heating sources too close to combustible materials,
electrical failure, and sparks setting vegetation on fire.
KEY
FINDINGS
NFPA.ORG/
LARGELOSS
Read the complete
2020 report on
large-loss fires in
the US.
In 2020, firefighters in
the US responded to
almost 1.4 million fires with
an associated loss of $21.9
billion. Large-loss fires
accounted for 0.002 percent
of the total fires but
36.8% of the losses.
The 28 large-loss fires
was the second-highest
in the past 10 years; the
highest was 37 in 2018.
Large-loss fires in 2020
included associated losses
of almost $8.1 billion,
the second-highest loss
amount in the past 10
92 | NFPA JOURNAL * SUMMER 2022
years; the highest was
$12.6 billion in 2017.
Two fires resulted in losses
of more than $1 billion.
One was a series of California
wildfires that caused
at least $4.2 billion in damages.
These fires burned
for months and destroyed
or damaged over 11,000
structures, resulted in 31
deaths (including three
firefighters), and burned
more than 4 million acres
(1.7 million hectares). Many
of these fires were caused
by lightning strikes. CalFire
Fire destroyed a facility used for Amazon storage
and fulfillment in Redlands, California, in 2020.
That year, 28 large-loss fires resulted in $8.1 billion
in direct property damage and losses.
days and injured nearly 70
firefighters and shipboard
sailors. The 22-year-old
ship was later decommissioned
and scrapped.
There were six large-loss
fires in storage properties.
The largest loss involved a
one-story warehouse used
for the storage and distribution
of merchandise for
an online shopping club.
This fire resulted in $300
million in losses. Due to an
ongoing investigation, no
additional information was
available on this fire.
Other storage properties
with losses exceeding
$10 million included four
general-storage warehouses
and a cold-storage
warehouse. The combined
losses among these storage
property fires was
$387 million.
25 large-loss fires in
2020 involved either
structures or vehicles;
The remaining seven
properties did not have
detection equipment.
Information on automatic
suppression equipment
was reported in 17 of
these fires. Eight of the
properties had some type
of suppression system;
one system operated, four
did not operate, and no
information was reported
on the others. Two reports
listed the reason for systems
not operating as
being shut down prior to
the fire, and two reports
indicated that systems
were installed but not yet
in operation.
Of the 23 large-loss
fires that occurred in
structures, nine occurred
in buildings under construction.
Of those, eight
involved apartment buildings
and one involved a
hotel. These fires resulted
in losses of more than
$294 million.
STEPHEN G. BADGER is a fire data analyst at NFPA.
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NFPA Journal - Summer 2022

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