The U.S. Fire Administration issued a special report that examined the characteristics of restaurant building fires. The report, "Restaurant Building Fires," was developed by USFA's National Fire Data Center and is based on 2007 to 2009 data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

An estimated 5,900 restaurant building fires occur annually in the United States, resulting in an estimated average of 75 injuries and $172 million in property loss.

The leading cause of all restaurant building fires is cooking at 59% and nearly all of these cooking fires (91%) are small, confined fires with limited damage.

While cooking is the leading cause of all restaurant building fires as well as the smaller, confined restaurant building fires, electrical malfunction is the leading cause of the larger, nonconfined restaurant building fires.