In 2025, fire departments serving Bellevue responded to 299 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K 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 57% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,517 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $5.0M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 271 | — | |
| 2022 | 312 | +15.1% | |
| 2023 | 309 | -1.0% | |
| 2024 | 326 | +5.5% | |
| 2025 | 299 | -8.3% |
For the 46 building fires Bellevue departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 347 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 | 66 | 19.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 45 | 13.0% | |
| 3 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 24 | 6.9% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 23 | 6.6% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 14 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Other | 12 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 12 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 11 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Undetermined | 11 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 10 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 119 | 34.3% |
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 Bellevue mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 78 | 22.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 38 | 11.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 31 | 8.9% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 28 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 28 | 8.1% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 25 | 7.2% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 24 | 6.9% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 16 | 4.6% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 11 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 10 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 58 | 16.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bellevue departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 72% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $145,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Vehicle accident, general cleanup | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bellevue sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
29 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 9 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 5 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 12,159 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,000 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 2,000 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 715 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Smoking | 700 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 6.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 443 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 300 | 4.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Equipment and vehicle use | 280 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 19.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Smoking | 220 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 202 | 46.7 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 Nebraska cities with population within ±25% of Bellevue. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Bellevue.
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.