The U.S. fire problem, on a per capita basis, is one of the worst in the industrial world. Thousands of Americans die each year, tens of thousands of people are injured, & property losses reach billions of dollars. There are also huge indirect costs of fire -- temporary lodging, lost bus., med. expenses, etc. This report is designed to arm the fire service & others with information that motivates corrective action, sets priorities, targets specific fire programs, serves as a model for state & local analyses of fire data, & provides a baseline for evaluating programs. This 13th ed. covers the 10-year period from 1992-2001, with emphasis on 2001. The primary source of data is from the Nat. Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS). Extensive charts, tables & graphs.

Presents trends over the 10-year period, but focuses on 2001 statistics relating to causes, property types, smoke alarm performance, and casualty characteristics. Firefighter casualties are also presented.

This 14th edition covers the 10-year period 1995 to 2004 with a primary focus on 2004. For the first time, only native National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) 5.0 data are used for NFIRS-based analyses. The report addresses the overall national fire problem. Detailed analyses of the residential and non-residential fire problem, firefighter casualties, and other subsets of the national fire problem are not included. These topic-specific analyses will be addressed as separate, stand-alone publications.