In 2025, fire departments serving Avondale responded to 413 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,958 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $6.6M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 402 | — | |
| 2022 | 438 | +9.0% | |
| 2023 | 379 | -13.5% | |
| 2024 | 326 | -14.0% | |
| 2025 | 413 | +26.7% |
For the 37 building fires Avondale departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 434 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 | 106 | 24.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 50 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 46 | 10.6% | |
| 4 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 30 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 21 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 20 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 19 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 18 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 17 | 3.9% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 16 | 3.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 91 | 21.0% |
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 Avondale mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 166 | 38.2% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 109 | 25.1% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 40 | 9.2% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 35 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 17 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 1.8% | |
| 7 | Fireworks | 7 | 1.6% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 7 | 1.6% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 6 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 34 | 7.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Avondale departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 89% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $12,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Avondale sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
15 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 3 | |
| 20-29 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 612,390 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Natural | 248,310 | 50.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 193,455 | 46.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Natural | 24,505 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 14,534 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 14,476 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 12,252 | 47.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,500 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 7,944 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,740 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,470 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 6,660 | 3.7 mi | |
| 1993 | Equipment and vehicle use | 6,628 | 19.5 mi |
Top 7 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Arizona cities with population within ±25% of Avondale. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Avondale.
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.