The page was updated in December 2024

Thousands of homes in the UK are devastated yearly by house fires. This article delves into the latest statistics on house fires, highlighting the risks, common causes, and peak times for these devastating events. 

All data is sourced directly from the most recent Fire and Rescue Services data tables and refers exclusively to dwelling fires. A dwelling is a building or part of a building that people live in, including houses, apartments, flats, and maisonettes. In this article, all dwellings are referred to as houses.

Key house fire statistics

There are more than 34,000 house fires in the UK per year.

This equates to approximately 93 house fires per day, or one house fire every 15 minutes.

The number of house fires has almost halved in the past 20 years.

Cooking appliances are the leading cause of house fires.

More than 200 people in England die in house fires each year.

Cigarette fires claim more lives than any other fire type.

63% of house fires are preventable accidents.

How many fires are there in the UK each year?

In the last five years, fire and rescue services have responded to an average of 34,136 house fires per year.

This equates to approximately 93 fires per day, or one house fire every 15 minutes.

Year Total house fires in Great Britain
2013/14 39,145
2014/15 38,719
2015/16 38,825
2016/17 37,753
2017/18 37,752
2018/19 36,299
2019/20 35,024
2020/21 33,183
2021/22 33,393
2022/23 32,682

House fires attended in the past 10 years

How common are house fires across the UK?

House fires are decreasing on the whole, with incidents down 13% compared with 5 years ago, 20% vs 10 years ago, and 47% vs 20 years ago.

Across Great Britain, house fires occur at a rate of 498 fires per 1m people. Put another way, in a region with a population of 1 million, nearly 500 homes catch fire yearly.

This number varies across countries, as shown below:

England Scotland Wales
Total house fires per year per 1m people 470 790 492

What are the biggest causes of house fires?

By far, the biggest cause of house fires in the UK is cooking appliances, accounting for 44% of all fires.

Cause of fire Incidents % of total
Cooking appliances 10,176 44%
Electrical distribution 3,148 14%
Other electrical appliances 2,658 12%
Smoking-related materials 1,522 7%
Matches & candles 926 4%
Space heating appliances 761 3%
Central and water heating appliances 177 1%
Cigarette lighters 149 1%
Matches 117 1%
Blowlamps, welding and cutting equipment 106 0%
Unspecified 3,268 14%

Causes of house fires in England in 2023/24

What percentage of house fires are caused by people?

63% of accidental house fires in England are caused by human error.

Cause of fire Percentage of total
Human factors 63%
Non-human factors 27%
Other factors 10%

Causes of accidental fires in England by human or non-human factors in 2023/24

(Human factors e.g. accumulation of flammable material, bonfire going out of control, careless handling, combustible articles too close to heat source, or cooking.
Non-human factors e.g. chimney fire, fault in equipment or appliance, faulty fuel supplies and Faulty leads to equipment or appliance.

Other or unspecified factors e.g. natural occurrence or unknown cause)

When do most house fires occur in the UK?

House fires are most common between the hours of 6 pm and 8 pm and occur most frequently in June & December.

Conversely, fires are least common between the hours of 4 am and 6 am, and in February.

How many deaths are caused by fire each year in the UK?

Around 200 people die in house fires in England every year.

Year Fire-related deaths
2016/17 216
2017/18 263
2018/19 198
2019/20 198
2020/21 184
2021/22 209
2022/23 212
2023/24 180
Year ending June 2023 220
Year ending June 2024 178

 House fire-related fatalities in England in the past 10 years

Causes of house fire-related deaths

Accidental fires started by smoking materials such as cigarettes kill more people than any other type of fire.

Source of fire Number of deaths Percentage of total
Smokers’ materials 74 28%
Cooking appliances 19 7%
Electrical distribution 18 7%
Cigarette lighters 14 5%
Space heating appliances 12 5%
Candles 12 5%
Other electrical appliances 10 4%
Matches 7 3%
Other / Unspecified 99 37%

House fire-related deaths by the source of ignition in England in 2022/23

For more information visit www.gov.uk/government/fire-prevention-and-rescue 

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