Thanksgiving Day Fires
November 18, 2007
Residential Structure Fires
As with many U.S. holidays, fire incidence increases on Thanksgiving Day. This increase is troubling as it applies mostly to cooking fires in the family home.
- Thanksgiving Day fires in residential structures cause more property damage and claim more lives than residential structure fires on other days. Surprisingly, fire injuries in residences decrease on Thanksgiving Day.
- Cooking is by far the leading cause of residential structure fires on Thanksgiving Day (42%); nearly double that of a normal day.
- The leading factor in the ignition of residential cooking fires is food left unattended. Source: NFPA and NFIRS
Each year, nearly 4,300 fires in the United States occur on Thanksgiving Day causing 15 fatalities, about 50 injuries, and nearly $27 million in property damage. Of these fires, 1,450 are in residential structures that claim 15 lives, injure 41, and cause an estimated $21 million in damage.
On Thanksgiving Day, the incidence of vehicle, outdoor, and other fires decline; however, the number of residential structure fires increases from 23 percent to 36 percent of the daily average.
Causes
Cooking is the leading cause of residential structure fires on Thanksgiving Day and is responsible for more fires than the following four leading causes combined. For the average day (both in general and for November specifically), the leading cause of structure fires is cooking, but other causes play more dominant roles. For example, incendiary/suspicious fires are much more common on the average day than on Thanksgiving.
Food left unattended is the leading factor in the ignition of residential cooking fires on Thanksgiving Day. As with cooking fires in general, the preponderance (83 percent) of Thanksgiving Day residential structure fires is the result of incidents involving stoves and ovens.
Thanksgiving Day has more than double the number of residential cooking fires than an average day. The day after Thanksgiving traditionally has a substantial decrease in such fires, perhaps because people eat leftovers rather than cook.
Not surprisingly, cooking is the leading cause of residential structure fire injuries on Thanksgiving, followed by open flame, electrical distribution, and appliances. In contrast, the leading causes of residential fire fatalities on Thanksgiving are smoking and cooking (46 percent each), followed by arson (9 percent).
HAVE A SAFE HOLIDAY SEASON
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