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WASHINGTON (AP) - Heating equipment caused about 62,200 reported home fires and 670 civilian deaths nationwide in 2005, with three-fourths of the fatalities due to space heaters, according to a report released Tuesday by a fire safety association.
In all, home heating equipment fires accounted for about 16 percent of all reported home fires in 2005 and space heaters resulted in far more fires, deaths and damage than central heating devices, according to the National Fire Protection Association report.
Space heaters accounted for one-third of reported home heating fires and more than half of property damage from home heating fires in 2005, the most recent year data was collected. Most of the fires involving space heaters began when equipment was left too close to something that ignited.
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