In 2025, fire departments serving Bullhead City responded to 23 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Bullhead City's departments reported 23 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 103 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Cooking fire, confined to container lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.
Jan peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
517 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $4.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 238 | — | |
| 2022 | 168 | -29.4% | |
| 2023* | 32 | — | |
| 2024* | 56 | — | |
| 2025* | 23 | — |
* Well below Bullhead City'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 2 building fires Bullhead City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 174 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 | 63 | 36.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 20 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 15 | 8.6% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 7 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 7 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 6 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 5 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 4 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 34 | 19.5% |
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 Bullhead City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 99 | 56.9% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 14 | 8.0% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 9 | 5.2% | |
| 4 | Radiated heat from another fire | 8 | 4.6% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 5 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 5 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 4 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 16 | 9.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bullhead City departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Water vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Water vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Water vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $500 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bullhead City sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 193,677 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Natural | 63,436 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 22,477 | 32.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 21,276 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 12,637 | 13.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 11,927 | 19.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 6,083 | 21.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 5,413 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 5,059 | 37.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 5,000 | 21.9 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 3,887 | 43.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Natural | 3,800 | 48.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,703 | 30.2 mi |
Top 6 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 Bullhead City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Bullhead City.
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.