Deaths resulting from residential fires--United States, 1991.

Most residential fires occur during December through March--a period of colder weather and longer darkness. During 1991, residential fires were the second leading cause of injury deaths (after motor-vehicle-related injuries) among children aged 1-9 years and the sixth leading cause of such deaths among persons aged > or = 65 years. Because of seasonal variations in the occurrence of residential fires, CDC analyzed death certificate data from U.S. vital statistics mortality tapes maintained by CDC's National Center for Health Statistics and data from the National Fire Incidence Reporting System (NFIRS) to improve characterization of selected residential fires. This report summarizes the analysis of death certificate data for 1991 and data from NFIRS for 1990.