The Eight Leading Causes of Hospital Fires

While smoking is not permitted on many hospital campuses, that doesn't stop people from lighting up every once in a while, as an Orlando hospital experienced earlier this fall. So much so, in fact, that it is the eighth leading cause of hospital fires in the U.S.

Between 2003 and 2006, smoking materials accounted for 30 hospital fires--or, about 2 percent of all hospital fires in the U.S.

But patients, staff and visitors aren't always to blame. A work crew may have started a fire at one hospital due to someone's cigarette igniting roofing material that crew members had stored on the roof, the NFPA reports. An evacuation ensued.

An employee and an officer were treated for smoke inhalation, but no patients were injured. Damage was estimated at $30,000.