NFPA Journal - Winter 2024 - 73

NFPA Research The Reports
Firefighters battle a home
fire in Massachusetts in 2018,
one of dozens of fires that
occurred in three communities
due to over-pressurized gas
lines. A new NFPA report
found that, from 2018 to 2022,
an estimated annual average
of 15,941 reported structure
fires occurred in the U.S.
where a flammable gas was
the item first ignited.
RESEARCH SUMMARY
Structure Fires in the United
States Involving Flammable
Gases, 2018-2022
THE LATEST NFPA REPORT SHOWS
THAT THESE INCIDENTS HAVE INCREASED
OVER THE PAST DECADE
By Tucker McGree
D
uring 2018-2022, an
estimated annual average
of 15,941 reported structure
fires occurred where
the material in the item
first ignited was a flammable gas. These
fires caused an estimated 191 civilian
deaths, 747 civilian injuries, and $402
million in property damage each year.
Approximately two-thirds of the fires
occurred in homes and a third occurred
in non-home structures.
Both the raw number of structure fires
involving a flammable gas, as well as the
percentage of these incidents compared
to all structure fires, have increased over
the past decade. Natural gas was the material
first ignited in most of these incidents,
followed by fires involving liquid propane
gas. Incidents involving liquid propane
appeared to be more deadly than incidents
involving other flammable gases and,
proportionally, were more common in
home fires. A large majority of these fires
involved cooking or heating equipment.
Home structure fires
Based on an analysis of data collected
by the National Fire Incident Reporting
System (NFIRS), from 2010 to 2022
the number of home structure fires
involving a flammable gas increased
slightly. The percentage of these fires
as part of all reported home structure
fires increased from 2 percent to 3 percent
over this period, with most of this
increase attributed to those categorized
as confined fires. Based on NFIRS coding,
confined fires include confined cooking
fires, confined chimney or flu fires, confined
incinerator overload or malfunction
fires, confined fuel burner or boiler fires,
confined commercial compactor fires, and
contained trash or rubbish fires.
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NFPA Journal - Winter 2024

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Contents
NFPA Journal - Winter 2024 - Cover1
NFPA Journal - Winter 2024 - Cover2
NFPA Journal - Winter 2024 - 1
NFPA Journal - Winter 2024 - 2
NFPA Journal - Winter 2024 - 3
NFPA Journal - Winter 2024 - Contents
NFPA Journal - Winter 2024 - 5
NFPA Journal - Winter 2024 - 6
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