The U.S. has one of the highest per capita arson rates in the world.
	Arson is the leading cause of fires in commercial buildings and the second leading cause of residential fires.
	More than 2.4 million fires occur in the U.S. each year causing around 6,000 deaths and billions of dollars of property damage.
	More Americans die from fire-related causes than citizens of any other industrialized nation. Chicago, half the size of Hong Kong, suffers triple the number of fire-caused deaths. Baltimore has 13 times as many deaths by fire as Amsterdam, a city of the same size.
	An estimated 100,000 fires are deliberately set. Arson causes almost 1,000 deaths yearly and contributes over $1.5 billion in property damage.
	There are more than 30,000 fire departments in the United States; 23,000 of those are all-volunteer, manning departments that protect 24 percent of the U.S. population. The 1800 all-professional departments protect 44 percent of the population, while the remaining companies are a combination of professional and volunteer fire fighters.

"Negligent Arson"
A speaker at a recent convention of arson investigators claimed that the United States has one of the worst fire safety records of any industrialized country because of a lax attitude toward fires caused by carelessness. Richey Adams called such fires "negligent arson" and recommended stiff penalities for those guilty of starting fires through reckless or thoughtless actions.

"When will the first representative of an insurance company be willing to go on television and say, 'We're not paying this guy...this fire was caused by stupidity'," Adams told the group. He compared careless fire setting and suspected arson to drunk driving and urged media condemnation of those guilty of crime or poor judgment.