U.S. High-Rise Building Fires Facts

In 2005-2009, U.S. fire departments responded to an average of 15,700 structure fires in high-rise buildings. These fires caused an annual average of

• 53 civilian fire deaths
• 546 civilian fire injuries
• $235 million in direct property damage

Four property use groups account for roughly half of high-rise fires:

• Apartments (44% of all high-rise fires, 55% of deaths, 18% of damages)
• Hotels (2% of high-rise fires, 2% of deaths, 21% of damages)
• Facilities that care for the sick (2% of high-rise fires, 0% of deaths, 1% of damages)
• Offices (2% of high-rise fires, 0% of deaths, 2% of damages)
• The rest were nearly all property uses found in mixed-use residential or office buildings (such as restaurants, stores, and parking garages) or probable miscodes of properties that cannot be high-rise (such as dwellings and sheds)

By most measures, the risks of fire and of associated losses are lower in high-rise buildings than in other buildings of the same property use.

A major reason why risks are lower is probably the much greater use of fire protection systems and features in high-rise buildings as compared to shorter buildings.

Source: High-Rise Building Fires, John R. Hall Jr., NFPA Fire Analysis & Research, Quincy, MA, December 2011