Dryer fire statistics
I did some searches through the National Fire Protection Association's Web site (nfpa.org) and pulled down some reports. The most complete data is kind of old (it goes through 1998), but I'm guessing that the yearly averages haven't changed a lot since then.
Depending on which set of stats you look at, dryers cause between 14,000 and 18,000 fires in the U.S. and Canada each year, with about 3/4 of these occuring in residences and the other 1/4 in other types of structures. These fires account for between 10 and 25 deaths and $70-80M (U.S.) in property damage per year. However, dryers cause only 3% of all structure fires. (The top three causes of structure fires are listed as cooking equipment, heating equipment, and arson.)
The most common causes of dryer fires is hard to state for certain, because it doesn't appear that the data collected is of very good quality (minor structure fires not resulting in injury are often not investigated in detail). But "lack of maintenance" is listed as the leading cause, accounting for 30% of all dryer fires. I surmise that in this context "lack of maintenance" mainly means failure to keep the machine and exhaust duct free of lint. Interestingly, though, in a table that lists the first items ignited in dryer fires, lint comes in second to clothing in the dryer or in contact with the dryer.
The data kind of goes downhill from there; "unknown mechanical failure" is listed as the second leading cause of fire, "part failure or leak" is third, and "electrical short or ground" is fourth. These three things togther add up to about 30%. "Automatic control failure" was listed in the cause in only 4% of dryer fires. I think that the real number could be either higher or lower, because I'm guessing that many inspectors don't really have the expertise to determine that, especially in the case of electronic controls. "Spontaneous heating", by which I assume they mean heating that occurs when the dryer isn't in use and does not have its controls in an "on" state, accounted for less than 2%.
There are a couple of consistent themes that emerge, though. The most common root cause of dryer fires appears to be restricted airflow caused by lint buildup in the dryer and/or exhaust duct. The second most common is the drying of materials containing flammable oils or solvents; clothese or rags saturated with cooking oils seems to appear a lot in commercial dryer fires. This is significant because these are things that are preventable by the homeowner.
I did some searches through the National Fire Protection Association's Web site (nfpa.org) and pulled down some reports. The most complete data is kind of old (it goes through 1998), but I'm guessing that the yearly averages haven't changed a lot since then.
Depending on which set of stats you look at, dryers cause between 14,000 and 18,000 fires in the U.S. and Canada each year, with about 3/4 of these occuring in residences and the other 1/4 in other types of structures. These fires account for between 10 and 25 deaths and $70-80M (U.S.) in property damage per year. However, dryers cause only 3% of all structure fires. (The top three causes of structure fires are listed as cooking equipment, heating equipment, and arson.)
The most common causes of dryer fires is hard to state for certain, because it doesn't appear that the data collected is of very good quality (minor structure fires not resulting in injury are often not investigated in detail). But "lack of maintenance" is listed as the leading cause, accounting for 30% of all dryer fires. I surmise that in this context "lack of maintenance" mainly means failure to keep the machine and exhaust duct free of lint. Interestingly, though, in a table that lists the first items ignited in dryer fires, lint comes in second to clothing in the dryer or in contact with the dryer.
The data kind of goes downhill from there; "unknown mechanical failure" is listed as the second leading cause of fire, "part failure or leak" is third, and "electrical short or ground" is fourth. These three things togther add up to about 30%. "Automatic control failure" was listed in the cause in only 4% of dryer fires. I think that the real number could be either higher or lower, because I'm guessing that many inspectors don't really have the expertise to determine that, especially in the case of electronic controls. "Spontaneous heating", by which I assume they mean heating that occurs when the dryer isn't in use and does not have its controls in an "on" state, accounted for less than 2%.
There are a couple of consistent themes that emerge, though. The most common root cause of dryer fires appears to be restricted airflow caused by lint buildup in the dryer and/or exhaust duct. The second most common is the drying of materials containing flammable oils or solvents; clothese or rags saturated with cooking oils seems to appear a lot in commercial dryer fires. This is significant because these are things that are preventable by the homeowner.
