Chippens Hill Middle School

Winter Holiday Fire Facts

• U.S. fire departments responded to an estimated average of 790 home structure fires per year that began with decorations, excluding Christmas trees. These fires caused an annual average of 4 civilian fire deaths, 33 civilian fire injuries, and $14 million in direct property damage.
• Electrical distribution or lighting equipment was involved in more than two in five home Christmas tree fires.
• Nearly one in five Christmas tree fires were started by lamps or bulbs. Eight percent were started by candles.
• Roughly two of every five home Christmas tree fires started in the living room.
• Candle fires peak in December and January with 11 percent of candle fires in each of these months.
• Thanksgiving is the peak day for home cooking fires, followed by Christmas Day and Christmas Eve.
• Year-round, one-third (33%) of home decoration fires were started by candles. This jumped to almost half in December when candles started 46% of such fires. Cooking started one-fifth (19%) of decoration fires.