In 2025, fire departments serving Anchorage responded to 2,244 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $4.2M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 66% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
10,433 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $75.1M cumulative property loss. 30 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,658 | — | |
| 2022 | 2,177 | +31.3% | |
| 2023 | 2,176 | +0.0% | |
| 2024 | 2,178 | +0.1% | |
| 2025 | 2,244 | +3.0% |
For the 148 building fires Anchorage departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 2,153 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 316 | 14.7% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 278 | 12.9% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 152 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 123 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 92 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 81 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 79 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 70 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 64 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Other | 62 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 836 | 38.8% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Anchorage mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 1,013 | 47.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 203 | 9.4% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 122 | 5.7% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 89 | 4.1% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 89 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 75 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 68 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 62 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 62 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 57 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 313 | 14.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Anchorage departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 57% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $4,228,045 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $2,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,626,930 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $925,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $925,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $800,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 7 | $714,683 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 8 | $665,215 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Anchorage sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
193 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 7 | |
| 10-19 | 6 | |
| 20-29 | 28 | |
| 30-39 | 44 | |
| 40-49 | 48 | |
| 50-59 | 30 | |
| 60-69 | 16 | |
| 70-79 | 11 | |
| 80+ | 3 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 46,904 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Fireworks | 37,336 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 3,496 | 23.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,692 | 11.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 777 | 22.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 573 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 461 | 30.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 383 | 19.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 303 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Recreation and ceremony | 240 | 24.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 227 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 206 | 25.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 150 | 20.5 mi |
Top 10 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Anchorage.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.