Deaths From Fires Reach Seven-Year High

Fire deaths in the United States reached a seven-year high in 1988, when 6,215 people died, most of them in their homes, the National Fire Protection Assn. reported Wednesday.

The association, a nonprofit trade group, said there were 7% more fatalities last year than in 1987, when fires killed 5,810 people. The 1988 total did not include the 62 firefighters who died in the line of duty.

Of the 1988 deaths, 5,065 occurred on residential property--defined as houses, apartments, mobile homes, hotels and motels--an increase of 8.7% over the previous year.

Fires last year caused property damage estimated at $8.35 billion, the report said, up 16.7% from 1987. The report noted that 5.6% of the damage total was due to three large industrial fires--at a refinery in Norco, La.; a chemical manufacturing plant in Henderson, Nev., and a telephone switching station in Hinsdale, Ill.