Total Cost of Fire Up
The core total cost of fire has increased by 86 percent since 1980, a report released recently by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) found.
The total cost of fire for 2007 is estimated at $347 billion, making up approximately 2.5 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), according to the report.
The complete total cost of fire is defined as the sum of economic loss (e.g., property damage, business interruption), human loss (e.g., lives lost, medical treatment, pain and suffering), and the cost of provisions to prevent or mitigate the cost of fire (e.g., fire departments, insurance, and fire protection equipment and construction), the NFPA says.
Other key findings from the report indicate that although the core total cost of fire increased, the economic loss due to fire decreased by 13 percent since 1980, totaling $18.6 billion.
The total cost of direct property damages, reported or unreported, totaled $16.6 billion. This figure represents 90 percent of the economic loss. The other 10 percent represents indirect losses, such as business interruption.
Finally, human losses are estimated at $42.5 billion, according to the report.
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