State Fire Death Rates

The fire problem varies from region to region in the United States. This often is a result of climate, poverty, education, demographics, and other causal factors. The following table shows the District of Columbia and each state's fire death rate per capita for 2009 based on the state where the fire death occurred. The national fire death rate in 2009 was 11.0 deaths per million population. States are listed by rate from highest to lowest. The highest death rates in 2009 occurred in the District of Columbia, Arkansas, and Mississippi. The states with the lowest rates were Hawaii, Idaho, and Massachusetts.

Sources: 1) National Center for Health Statistics. 2009 Mortality Data File, as compiled from data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program. 2) U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division. July 1, 2009 population estimates from Table 1. Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for the United States, Regions, States, and Puerto Rico: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2009 (NST-EST2009-01).

Note: The fire death rates are based on all deaths in which exposure to fire, fire products, or explosion was the underlying cause of death or was a contributing factor in the chain of events leading to death. Specifically, ICD 10 Codes: F63.1, W39-W40, X00-X09, X75-X76, X96-X97, Y25-Y26, and Y35.1 were extracted for this analysis resulting in a total of 3,391 fire deaths.