In 2025, fire departments serving Big Lake responded to 29 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K 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 66% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
114 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $377K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 13 | — | |
| 2022 | 17 | — | |
| 2023 | 22 | +29.4% | |
| 2024 | 33 | +50.0% | |
| 2025 | 29 | -12.1% |
* Well below Big Lake'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 10 building fires Big Lake departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 28 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 | Undetermined | 11 | 39.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 3 | Other | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 4 | Function area, other | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 5 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Maintenance shop or area, paint shop or area | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Structural area, other | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 25.0% |
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 Big Lake mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 14 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 3 | 10.7% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Chemical, natural heat source, other | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 3.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Big Lake departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $45,800 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Big Lake sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,709 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,162 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 289 | 48.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 255 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 225 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 216 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 200 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 173 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 170 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 27.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 94 | 25.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 89 | 11.1 mi | |
| 1993 | Equipment and vehicle use | 70 | 19.1 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 Washington cities with population within ±25% of Big Lake. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.