NFPA Journal - Spring 2024 - 63

SUMMARIES OF NFPA REPORTS
AND FIRE PROTECTION RESEARCH
FOUNDATION PROJECTS
furniture and bedding and extended to
the hallway, where firefighters encountered
heavy smoke and fire. Additional
firefighters made their way throughout
the building to locate and remove victims
of smoke inhalation. Fire officials reported
that smoke in the stairwell blocked the
escape of some residents. The fire killed
17 people; firefighters located victims
throughout the building.
Fire officials reported that an electric
space-heater used for supplemental heat
was left running for a prolonged period
in a bedroom of a third-floor apartment.
Officials also reported that several doors
were left open during the fire, allowing
smoke to spread throughout the building.
Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said the
apartment's front door and a door on the
15th floor should have been self-closing to
help prevent the spread of smoke, but the
doors were fully open. It was not clear if
the doors failed mechanically or if they
had been manually disabled. Nigro said the
apartment door was unobstructed. The fire
was under investigation by many city and
state agencies.
The fire in the Bronx occurred four
days after a fire in a three-story, two-unit
rowhouse in Pennsylvania that killed 12
people. In August, 10 people died in a fire
in a single-family home, also in Pennsylvania.
These three large-fatality fires
accounted for 39 victims, eight of whom
were children under age six.
The Bronx fire was the deadliest catastrophic
multiple-death fire in the United
States in 2022. A catastrophic multiple-death
fire is defined as a home fire that
kills five or more people, or a fire in a nonhome
structure or nonstructural properties
(including vehicle and wildland/urban
interface fires) that kills three or more
people. In the U.S. in 2022, 18 catastrophic
multiple-death fires and explosions
occurred. These 18 events resulted in the
deaths of 113 people, including 24 children
under age six. Four of the fatalities
were firefighters. Fourteen of these fires
occurred in homes and accounted for 98
deaths, including all 24 children under the
age of six. Two fires occurred in nonhome
structures and accounted for seven deaths.
Two fires occurred in nonstructure settings
and accounted for eight deaths.
Catastrophic multiple-death fires are an
FDNY firefighters at the scene
of an apartment building fire
in the Bronx in January 2022.
The fire killed 17 people and
was the year's deadliest blaze
in the United States.
important part of the nation's overall fire
picture. In 2022, according to the 2022 fire
loss study from NFPA, firefighters in the
U.S. responded to an estimated 1,504,500
fires. An estimated 382,500 of those
occurred in residential structures, 140,000
occurred in nonresidential structures, an
estimated 760,000 occurred outside of
structures, and 222,000 occurred in vehicles.
These fires accounted for an estimated
3,790 deaths, 2,760 of which occurred in
residential structures, 150 in nonresidential
structures, 180 in fires outside of
structures, and 700 in vehicle fires. The 18
catastrophic multiple-death incidents in
this report accounted for 0.001 percent of
the total estimated fires in 2022, while the
113 deaths accounted for almost 3 percent
of the total fire deaths in the U.S. last year.
While 2022 saw the fifth-lowest number
of catastrophic multiple-death fires in the
past 10 years-the nine fires in 2015 were
the fewest-the year had a notable increase
over the previous year. In 2021, there were
14 catastrophic multiple-death fires and 65
deaths, including 17 victims under age six.
The average number of such fires over the
previous 10 years (2012 to 2021) was 19.
The 113 fire deaths in 2022 and was a bit
lower than the 10-year average of 117 deaths
per year. The deaths of 24 children under
age six in 2022 ranks as the third-highest
in 10 years, which saw an annual average
of 17 deaths among children under age six.
Catastrophic
home structure fires
There were 14 catastrophic multiple-death
home fires in 2022. Twelve of these
occurred in single-family dwellings (including
two in manufactured homes), while
the other two included a two-unit home
and a 120-unit apartment building. These
fires killed 98 people, or 86.7 percent of
the fatalities associated with catastrophic
multiple-death fires in 2022. Twenty-four
of the victims were children under age six.
For only the second time in the past
10 years, three double-digit catastrophic
multiple-death fires occurred, all in residential
properties: a single-family home,
a two-family home, and a 120-unit apartment
building. These fires accounted for
39 deaths, including eight children under
age six.
Six of the 14 home fire incidents had
information reported on the presence of
smoke alarms. Three homes reportedly did
not have detectors present. Three homes
had detectors, but they were reported to
have operated in just one of the events;
no information was reported on the other
two. Information was reported on suppression
equipment in four of the home
properties, none of which included suppression
systems.
The area of origin was reported in only
four of the 14 home fires and included
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NFPA Journal - Spring 2024

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