In 2025, fire departments serving Austin responded to 68 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
286 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $449K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 57 | — | |
| 2022 | 81 | +42.1% | |
| 2023 | 52 | -35.8% | |
| 2024* | 28 | — | |
| 2025 | 68 | — |
* Well below Austin's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 20 building fires Austin departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 146 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 31 | 21.2% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 28 | 19.2% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 27 | 18.5% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 16 | 11.0% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 9 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Other | 5 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 20 | 13.7% |
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 Austin mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 61 | 41.8% | |
| 2 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 13 | 8.9% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 12 | 8.2% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 10 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 10 | 6.8% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 6 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 17 | 11.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Austin departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $40,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $25,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Natural vegetation fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Austin sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,418 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 19.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 776 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 636 | 19.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 524 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 441 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 413 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 367 | 1.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 343 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 336 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 330 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 303 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 47.1 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Arkansas cities with population within ±25% of Austin. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Austin.
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.