The Leading Causes of House Fires | SERVPRO® of North Central Mecklenburg County

1/28/2022 (Permalink)

Regardless of the cause, SERVPRO of North Central Mecklenburg County is here for you if your home is affected by fire.

Any fire is dangerous, but a fire in your home is a menacing thought. Your family lives there, and fires are unpredictable. Fires spread quickly and cause a lot of devastation and disruption.

Obviously, we go to great lengths to avoid fires, and we have made some headway. Home fires have been reduced by 55% over the last 40 years.

However, despite this decrease, there are still too many fires happening in homes. Unfortunately, even with all of the ad campaigns to raise awareness, more than 25% of all reported fires still occur in homes.

Let’s take a look at the top causes of house fires, and see if we can get that number down by learning how we can prevent them:

Cooking. This is the No. 1 cause of home fires and injuries. Almost half of all home fires are initiated from unattended cooking! The one thing you can do to avoid a fire at home is to never leave your cooking unattended. Stay with the grill, stove and oven, or turn them off if you leave the room.

Heating equipment. These fires account for 14% of the total number of house fires, and they are caused by improper use, equipment malfunction or flammable materials being placed too close to space heaters.

Electrical fires. Overloading of circuits, faulty wiring and the generally higher usage of electricity in older homes are all components that contribute to electrical fires in homes. And still yet another top cause is the use of frayed or faulty outlets, appliance cords or extensions.

Intentional fires. It’s hard to fathom that 28,000 intentional home fires are started every year. When we say intentional, we mean arson! These are fires that are solely caused by someone setting them to destroy, not fires set for other purposes that get out of control.

Smoking materials. Even though smoking materials are only responsible for 5% of home fire occurrences, they are the leading cause of civilian fire deaths. Often, as cigarettes are left burning, people fall asleep, which makes the victims more susceptible.

Regardless of the cause, SERVPRO is here for you if your home is affected by fire. Contact your local team today to see how we can help.