Structure fire

A structure fire is a fire involving the structural components of various types of residential, commercial or industrial buildings, such as barn fires. Residential buildings range from single-family detached homes and townhouses to apartments and tower blocks, or various commercial buildings ranging from offices to shopping malls. This is in contrast to "room and contents" fires, chimney fires, vehicle fires, wildfires or other outdoor fires.

Structure fires typically have a similar response from the fire department that include engines, ladder trucks, rescue squads, chief officers, and an EMS unit, each of which will have specific initial assignments. The actual response and assignments will vary between fire departments.

It is not unusual for some fire departments to have a predetermined mobilization plan for when a fire incident is reported in certain structures in their area. This plan may include mobilizing the nearest aerial firefighting vehicle to a tower block, or a foam-carrying vehicle to structures known to contain certain hazardous chemicals.

In the United States, according to NFPA, structures are divided into five construction types based on the severity of the fire hazard:

• 
  Remains of a structure fire on Cotton Avenue, Macon, Georgia, US. c. 1876
• 
  A burned-out house

Information from Canada's National Fire Information Database shows these ignition sources for residential fires in 2014.

A 2023 update from Statistics Canada confirmed that cooking equipment and smoker's material continued to be the top causes of residential fires, at 32% and 25% of total incidents respectively.

Data from the U.S. Fire Administration's National Fire Incident Reporting System shows that cooking has consistently been the leading cause of residential building fires.

• Fire extinguisher
• Firefighting
• Fire prevention

• National Fire Protection Association (US)
• Haung, Kai. 2009. Population and Building Factors That Impact Residential Fire Rates in Large U.S. Cities. Applied Research Project. Texas State University. http://ecommons.txstate.edu/arp/287/ Archived 2012-03-08 at the Wayback Machine