STATE FIRE MARSHAL’S RESIDENTIAL FIRE FACTS

In September 2011, the Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal distributed the following fact sheet regarding residential fires in Illinois:
From January 1, 2007, to September 5, 2011, the following residential fire statistics were reported by the Illinois fire service to the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

  • Property loss for Illinois residential fires totals more than $1.2 billion.
  • There have been 413 civilian and five Illinois Fire Service fatalities as a result of residential fires.
  • An average of $16,591 was lost in property.
  • Most fires happened during 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.
  • It was reported that smoke detectors did not alert the occupants 41% of the time.
  • More fires started in the kitchen and involved cooking.
  • Most fires were unintentional.
  • Automatic Extinguishing Systems (AES) were not present in most fires reported.
  • Summary of Residential Fire Data

Summary of Residential Fire Data

Summary of Residential Fire Data chart

This study is for fires reported for one- or two-family dwelling or multi-family dwelling property types for 2007 to September 5, 2011, no mutual-aid counted. This data represents incidents reported by Illinois fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System. The Illinois Office of the State Fire Marshal does not guarantee the completeness or accuracy of this data.