Why 2,400 people die in house fires every year

Six children were found dead after a fiery house collapse that injured four other family members who escaped from the home in Northeast Baltimore's Cedmont neighborhood Thursday morning, the city Fire Department said. It was one of the deadliest fires in Baltimore's recent history. In 2002, Angela and Carnell Dawson and their five children were killed in a fire in an East Baltimore rowhouse in retaliation for their calling police about drug dealing. In 2007, six people, including children, were killed in a fire near Green Mount Cemetery. In 2010, three children and three adults were killed in a fire in the East Baltimore Midway neighborhood. (Baltimore SUN, Feb 19, 2017)

Baltimore Cedmont neighborhood: Six children perished

That a fire in an older house can kill six people of a single family is unfortunately not a freak occurrence that practically never happens. It isn't even only a result of historic building techniques with inherent risks such platform framing or the lack of modern fire safety features. Such an unspeakable tragedy can strike even in a new home that is equipped with every latest gadget as Maryland learned in the first days of 2015 when the mansion of a wealthy family turned into a deadly fire-trap for the grandparents that owned the home and their three visiting grandchildren.

The 15-foot Fraser fir that twinkled with Christmas lights was showing its age. After six weeks on display in the castle-like mansion overlooking the water in Annapolis, the tree’s branches were sagging, and its needles had become brittle.
The fir was supposed to come down Jan. 20. But the night before it was to be removed, it became the tinder fueling a powerful blaze that consumed Don and Sandra Pyle’s home, leaving the couple and four of their grandchildren dead. On the night of the fire, smoke alarms in the home were functioning, but because the brittle tree provided such a massive fuel load, the fire quickly swept through the house, leaving the family unable to escape. “The whole sequence of events was horrendous,” said Capt. Russ Davies, a spokesman for the Anne Arundel fire department.(Washington Post, 8/5/2015)

True, across the country cities such as Baltimore  have seen steadily declining fire deaths since fatalities were recorded first in 1938. Baltimore's highest death toll at 88 per year is now down to a dozen. Still, it is astounding that in 2017 people still have to die in their beds because their house goes up in flames like a pile of tinder.

Fire death in a small house is more likely than in an apartment building

Maybe even more astounding, even though the US has cut its rate of fire death in about half since 1970, it is still among the most hazardous places among the industrialized nations of the world when it comes to fire. The National Fire Protection Association NFPA estimates that from 2003 to 2006, US fire departments responded to an average of 378,600 residential fires every year. These fires caused an estimated annual average of 2,850 civilian deaths and 13,090 civilian injuries. NFPA reports that in 2015 a structure fire occurred nationwide every 63 seconds

73% of the reported fires occurred in residential structures and 84% of the fatal home fire injuries occurred in one- or two- family dwellings, with the remainder in apartments or similar properties.(Source).

In 2015, there were 388,000 residential structure fires, accounting for 77.4 percent of all structure fires. This was an increase of 1,500 fires from the year before. Of these fires, 270,500 occurred in one- and two-family homes, including manufactured homes, accounting for 53.9 percent of all structure fires. Another 95,000 fires occurred in apartments, accounting for 18.9 percent of all structure fires. (NFPA)

The US, above the average risk

Small communities have 3x the risk of their larger counterparts

It seems counter-intuitive that apartments account for only 16% of fire deaths with a share of about 25% of all residential structure fires. Who wouldn't think that escaping from a single family home would be easier than from a multi-story apartment buildings with stairways and hallways? But the much stricter fire suppression and life safety requirements for apartment buildings seem to have an effect. The high risk of single family homes becomes also apparent in the property damage statistics provided by NFPA: The total damage of residential structure fires amounts to $7.2 billion, with $5.8 billion going towards damage in one and two family structures, and only $1.2 billion to apartments, the rest of $1/4 billion occurred in other residential structures such as hotels and motels, college dormitories, boarding houses.

Given that single family homes have such a high risk, the comparably high rate of US home-ownership and suburbanization is not helpful when it comes to the fire fatality rate or loss prevention. In fact, the further away from a larger town or city somebody lives, the higher the risk of death with communities under 2,500 residents having three times the risk than a town that has at least 25,000 residents, apparently the minimum size for an effective and well equipped fire department.

Single family homes are almost always unprotected wooden structures. Another country with lots of wooden homes is in Finland, a country that tops the international list of fire deaths per 100,000 residents, The pockets of extreme poverty found in the US whether in mountain hollers or in inner cities likely also adds risk factors such as use of open fires in houses where the power has been shut off, unauthorized squatting in unsafe vacant structures, drug use, more frequent code violations. These specific assumptions are speculative but supported by national statistics collected by FEMA (2014 data) that show the highest rate of fire deaths in poor states such as Mississipi and West Virginia. The District of Columbia is also ranked high, likely because it is the only statistical area on the list that is entirely urban with a high concentration of old houses and concentrated poverty pockets. The safest State is Colorado.

Wood-stick mid-rise building burns down while still under construction 

Architecture and design can make fires worse and some design trends are definitely pointing in the wrong direction:

Newer homes tend to incorporate features such as taller ceilings, open floor plans, two-story foyers and great rooms [9]. All of these features remove compartmentation, add volume and can contribute to rapid smoke and fire spread. (Analysis of Residential Fire Dynamics)

Modern building materials and furnishings frequently include synthetic materials such as vinyl siding, polystyrene insulation, polyester upholstery and synthetic curtains.Many of these chemicals are highly flammable. There are other trends that potentially increase fire risks even for multi-family housing, namely the allowed extra height for wood framed construction. (See the article How One Plus Five is Shaping American Cities in this space) combined with expanded use of foam insulation for building envelopes and vinyl siding for rain screens. In each case the building industry disputes that the materials present a higher fire risk (ArchDaily interview) and evidence is sketchy either way  because these nwer methods haven't been around long enough to have solid data. Evidence from spectacular fires on high-rises racing up facades that use foam-board insulation or from fires that consume six story wood framed structures in minutes while they where still unprotected during construction. With proper construction methods these higher risk can be mitigated. However, every construction professional knows that real life doesn't always provide proper methods. Post fire investigations routinely show the wrong use of gypsum board (regular 1/2" board instead of 5/8" "type X" boards), single layer instead of double layers, lack of offsets between board seams, open shafts between two framed walls, lack of fire stops in attics or roof cavities and similar problems that are often overlooked during inspections. Framed construction provides plenty opportunity for sloppy construction which is impossible to detect once framing has been covered up and drywall has been finished, speckled and painted.

Rowhouse fires pose an extra risk if attics are connected or roofs are
lacking parapets

That fire deaths have decreased at all can be attributed to mandatory smoke detectors and to making sprinklers mandatory for smaller structures as well. (Since 2005 residential fire fatalities were reduced by 11%, the number of fires and the material loss both around 21%. The national fire code now require those even in single family construction) and better fire fighting equipment. Stringent use of sprinklers brings  the risk of death by fire down further than anything else. The fire inspector reviewing many of my projects always told me that Baltimore had not a single fire death in a building equipped with fully automatic sprinklers.

While buildings have clearly come into focus as a major source of energy consumption and green buildings have become and entire industry, fire safety is still something that is often only considered on the most basic level. Somehow modern civilization forgets that fire is far from being tamed. Before water was available in pipes and hydrants on every street corner, before powerful fire engines and ladders made people feel that fire was no match for the equipment fire on the mind of every farmer and urban resident alike. When whole towns burned down in medieval times, half timbered houses were covered with thick stucco for fire protection. When much of downtown Baltimore burned down in 1907, fire codes were made much more stringent and wood construction banned from a wide downtown area. No fire of nearly the same magnitude occurred since then.

Highrise fires almost always stay
contained

It is time to address old buildings with their specific fire risks such as knob and tube wiring, wood lath with thin layers of plaster, insufficient part-walls and connected attics with mandatory improvements that don't bankrupt home-owners. Just as old building can receive incentive money for energy upgrades, they should receive funds for fire safety upgrades. For new construction, it is urgent to reconcile insulation and energy requirements, affordability considerations and fire safety in such a way that fire safety is no longer the stepchild among the three.


Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

Mansion Fire report
NFPA 2015 Fire Loss Report

Wood construction
knob and tube wiring
chimney effects
lack of fire separation walls, shared attic

Rowhouse and Townhouse Fires