In 2025, fire departments serving Carson City responded to 255 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $253K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 47% of all calls.
May peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,350 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $5.6M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 250 | — | |
| 2022 | 268 | +7.2% | |
| 2023 | 274 | +2.2% | |
| 2024 | 303 | +10.6% | |
| 2025 | 255 | -15.8% |
For the 20 building fires Carson City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 344 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 | Outside area, other | 58 | 16.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 54 | 15.7% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 34 | 9.9% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 29 | 8.4% | |
| 5 | Other | 20 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, 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 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 9 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Function area, other | 8 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 97 | 28.2% |
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 Carson City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 100 | 29.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 48 | 14.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 32 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 31 | 9.0% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 29 | 8.4% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 23 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 15 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 10 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 10 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Chemical reaction | 7 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 39 | 11.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Carson City departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $252,765 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $107,109 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $79,600 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $47,527 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $19,993 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $7,646 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Carson City sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
14 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 5 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 613,912 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 98,960 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 51,386 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 47,029 | 43.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 46,800 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 41,545 | 30.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 27,440 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 26,759 | 41.4 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 24,580 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 24,140 | 21.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 23,020 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20,385 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 18,380 | 22.1 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 Nevada cities with population within ±25% of Carson City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Carson 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.