In 2025, fire departments serving Buckeye responded to 563 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K 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 66% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,592 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.1M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 456 | — | |
| 2022 | 500 | +9.6% | |
| 2023 | 563 | +12.6% | |
| 2024 | 510 | -9.4% | |
| 2025 | 563 | +10.4% |
For the 60 building fires Buckeye departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 649 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 | 139 | 21.4% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 90 | 13.9% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 64 | 9.9% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 58 | 8.9% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 58 | 8.9% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 27 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 24 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 21 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 17 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Other | 16 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 135 | 20.8% |
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 Buckeye mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 369 | 56.9% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 66 | 10.2% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 52 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 20 | 3.1% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 19 | 2.9% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 15 | 2.3% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 14 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 13 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Match | 9 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 64 | 9.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Buckeye departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Arcing, shorted electrical equipment | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Buckeye sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
110 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 22 | |
| 30-39 | 34 | |
| 40-49 | 36 | |
| 50-59 | 16 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 99,058 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Natural | 12,252 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 6,660 | 21.7 mi | |
| 1993 | Equipment and vehicle use | 6,628 | 11.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 6,512 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Recreation and ceremony | 6,229 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 5,300 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 5,243 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 5,000 | 36.1 mi | |
| 1993 | Natural | 4,824 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,801 | 24.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Firearms and explosives use | 4,499 | 47.8 mi | |
| 1993 | Smoking | 3,389 | 41.6 mi |
Top 10 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 Buckeye. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Buckeye.
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.