Know The Facts About Electrical Fires

5/1/2021 (Permalink)

Complete home loss due to fire.

According to the U.S. Fire Administration, electrical fires accounted for 6.3% of all residential fires, with approximately 24,000 fires being reported each year. 

KEY FACTS FROM THE USFA ELECTRICAL FIRES REPORT

• Residential building electrical fires occurred most often in one- and two-family dwellings (83%).
• Residential building electrical fires occurred most often in the winter month of January (12%) due to increased use of heating appliances and lights.
• In only 17% of residential building electrical fires, the fire spread was limited to the object where the fire started.
• Residential building electrical fires most often started in bedrooms (15%) and attics or vacant crawl spaces (13%).
• Although most electrical fires start in the bedroom, the highest number of fatalities occur with fires located in the living room, family room and den.
• The leading specific items most often first ignited in residential building electrical fires were electrical wire, cable insulation (31%) and structural member or framing (18%).
• The leading specific factors contributing to the ignition of residential building electrical fires were other electrical failure, malfunction (43%), unspecified short-circuit arc (23%), and short-circuit arc from defective, worn insulation (11%).