Dryer Fire

For many households and other establishments, the clothes dryer is an indispensable convenience and necessity. However, damaging fires can occur if clothes dryers are not properly installed and maintained. Eighty-four percent of clothes dryer fires that occurred in buildings took place in residential buildings.1, 2 Because the residential building portion of these fires predominates, the primary focus of this analysis addresses the characteristics of clothes dryer fires in residential buildings reported to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS). The focus is on fires reported from 2008 to 2010, the most recent data available at the time of this analysis. From 2008 to 2010, fire departments responded to an estimated 2,900 clothes dryer fires in residential buildings each year across the Nation.3 These fires resulted in an annual average loss of 5 deaths, 100 injuries, and $35 million in property loss.