Fact: Fire does not care who you are, how much money you make, what kind of car you drive or how much "stuff" you have in your man cave. Fire does not care if you are white or black, rich or poor, single or married.

Here are some more facts:

• An estimated 54,500 heating fires occur each year in the United States.
• Heating is the second leading cause of all residential building fires following cooking. 
• Residential building heating fires peak in January and February; this peak accounts for 34 percent of fires.
• Confined heating fires, those fires confined to chimneys, fuels, fuel boxes, or boilers, account for 87 percent of residential building heating fires.
• Thirty-one percent of the nonconfined residential building heating fires occur because the heat source is too close to combustibles.
• Residential building heating fires peak in the early evening hours between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. with the highest peak between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. This 4-hour period accounts for 30 percent of all residential building heating fires.
• The percent of residential building heating fires declines to the lowest point during the summer months from June to August. Heating fires during these months tend to be confined fuel burner/boiler malfunction fires (64 percent) or involve water heaters (10 percent).

View the entire report on Heating Fires in Residential Buildings here:

Heating Fires in Residential Buildings.pdf (758.39 kb)