The Top 5 Worst US States for Fire Safety

At Alarm Grid, one thing we take very seriously is fire safety. Our security systems integrate with smoke and heat detectors that trigger fire alarms when activated. Most residential users can use central station monitoring to receive automatic dispatch in the event of a fire alarm.

Although fire safety is important no matter where you live, statistics show that some areas experience higher rates of serious fires than others. We decided to look into this a little bit further to determine the five (5) worst US states for fire safety. Not only are these statistics rather interesting, they can also be quite eye-opening if you live in one of these states.

Our method for determining the worst US states for fire safety was quite simple. We just took a look at the average number of fire-related deaths per million people per year for the years 2013 thru 2017, as reported by the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA). This is the newest NFPA data we were able to find. Although this data is a few years old, it should still be quite accurate in determining the biggest offenders for fire safety.

In the table below, you will see the five (5) US states that have the highest average number of fire-related deaths per million people per year for 2013 thru 2017. You will also see earlier groupings of years in the graph. We won't focus too much on the earlier years, but it is good to see that fire-related deaths are generally decreasing. All of these states have experienced at least 11 fewer fire-related deaths per million people per year on average when comparing the years 1981 to 1985 with the years 2013 to 2017. That in itself is a good sign that these states are improving their fire safety.

Based on this information, the five worst states for fire safety are:

• 5. Alabama
• 4. Alaska
• 3. Arkansas
• 2. Mississippi
• 1. West Virginia

We understand that this is an overly-simple ideology for ranking states based on fire safety, but it is still interesting nonetheless. And just because your state is on this list doesn't mean that you should get discouraged. Whether or not your household or business practices proper fire safety techniques is up to you, not the rest of your state. Therefore, you should do your part to prevent yourself and those around you from becoming another unfortunate statistic in this dataset.

To keep your home or business as safe as possible, you should start by making sure that the building is properly outfitted with smoke detectors. It is recommended that you have at least one smoke detector on each floor. There should also be a smoke detector inside of every sleeping area and inside any large central area. Great locations for smoke detectors include bedrooms, hallways, living rooms, and any big room in a business. You may also use standalone heat detectors in areas that are not suitable for traditional smoke detectors. These include bathrooms, garages, kitchens, and basements. Remember to test your smoke and heat detectors at least once per month and change their batteries regularly. If your smoke and heat detectors are enrolled with a monitored alarm panel, then make sure to place your system on test mode first to avoid false alarms.

We also strongly advise viewing this post we made last year about the top ten (10) causes for house fires. Understand how fires are caused, and take the proper actions to prevent them. Make sure that every member of your household or business is as fire safety conscious as you are. You should hold regularly scheduled fire drills in your home or business. Get everyone involved, and make it a group activity. It is crucial that you have an action plan and that everyone else in your home or business understands and follows that plan. You may even want to reach out to your local fire department on their non-emergency number to see if they can help you maintain fire safety.

Remember, fire-related deaths are something that you and those around you can prevent. But you need to take action beforehand. Once you lose someone to a fire, you can't bring them back. Let's work together to make this decade the safest yet. If you want to learn more about fire-safety or our residential fire monitoring services, then you can always reach out to us by emailing support@alarmgrid.com. Remember that our support hours run from 9am to 8pm ET M-F. We look forward to helping you remain fire safe!