National Statistics National fire death rate in 2001 was 12.9 deaths per million in population. The Maryland fire death rate in 2001 was 14.5 deaths per million in population. The highest rate was 37.9 for Arkansas and the lowest was 3.1 for Utah. The N.F.P.A. reports that in the years 2000-2002 there were 50,900 fire stations, comprising 30,310 fire departments in this country. A fire department responded to a fire every 19.0 seconds. 12% of all departments are career or mostly career and protect 60% of the U.S. population. In 2003 an estimated 37,500 intentionally set (incendiary) structure fires occurred, resulting in 305 civilian deaths and $692,000,000 in property loss. Between 1994 and 2003, an average of 4,060 people lost their lives and another 22,650 were injured annually in the United States. These averages do not reflect the terrorist related events of September 11, 2001. Local Statistics During the period of 1996 through 2004 this bureau developed the following information concerning fires determined to be incendiary in Anne Arundel County: - The area comprising Battalion 1 had the most incendiary fires; Stations 26 and 31 responding to significantly more of these calls than the other stations in the battalion
- Time when most incendiary fires occurred - 12:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.
- County-wide, Sunday and Monday were the days most incendiary fires occurred
- The years 2001 and 2002 had the highest incendiary rate with 193 and 192 cases respectively
In 2003 the Anne Arundel County Fire Department responded to 1,485 fires. Of these fires, 456 involved structures, 369 were highway vehicle fires, and 660 were other types of fire. The Fire Investigation Bureau responded to and investigated 382 of these incidents. The breakdown of these fire causes were: - 155 - incendiary
- 177 - accidental
- 50 - undetermined
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