In 2025, fire departments serving Big Water responded to 12 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Outside rubbish fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 50% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
20 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $35K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022* | 0 | — | |
| 2023* | 1 | — | |
| 2024 | 5 | — | |
| 2025 | 12 | +140.0% |
* Well below Big Water'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 1 building fires Big Water departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 9 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 | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Service facilities, other | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 6 | Multiple areas | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 1 | 11.1% |
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 Water mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 3 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 11.1% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Big Water sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 191,147 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 71,450 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 58,630 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 19,368 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 11,405 | 25.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 5,151 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 4,759 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 2,339 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 1,897 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 1,588 | 21.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 1,537 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 1,437 | 24.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 1,390 | 44.8 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 84741 | 20 |
Six Utah cities with population within ±25% of Big Water. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Big Water.
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.