Huang, Kai2009-05-112012-02-242009-04Huang, K. (2009). Population and building factors that impact residential fire rates in large U.S. cities. Masters of Public Administration, Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas.https://hdl.handle.net/10877/3592An Applied Research Project Submitted to the Department of Political Science, Texas State University-San Marcos, in Partial Fulfillment for the Requirements for the Degree of Masters of Public Administration, Spring 2009.The purpose of this explanatory research is to evaluate the impacts of population and building characteristics on the residential fire rates among large cities in the continental U.S. This study used existing aggregated data from 69 U.S cities in the continental U.S to explain the effect of population and building factors on cities' residential fire rates. Overall findings indicate that two building characteristics - vacancy rate and building age - significantly influence residential fire rates. None of the population and natural environment variables examined found to significantly impact residential fire rates. Therefore, during the economic downturn, fire prevention efforts should focus more on areas with high vacancy rates and old building structures.Text84 pages1 file (.pdf)enresidential firepopulation and building characteristicsvacancy ratebuilding agefire educationPublic AdministrationApplied Research Project