El Program: Fire Risk Reduction in Buildings

The total cost of fire in the United States in 2008, as defined by NFPA, is estimated at $310 B, or roughly 2 % of U.S. gross domestic product. Structure fires and fire protection account for $170 B. To reduce the U.S. fire burden, the Fire Risk Reduction in Buildings program focuses on the development and application of measurement science and standards directly on the two largest components of the structure fire problem: a reduction in the cost of installed fire protection through performance-based design ($63 B) and a reduction in residential fire losses ($31 B), which includes deaths, injuries, and property loss, through science-based prevention and mitigation.