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In 2025, fire departments serving Cascade Locks responded to 16 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
67 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $325K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 12 | — | |
| 2022* | 7 | — | |
| 2023 | 20 | — | |
| 2024 | 12 | -40.0% | |
| 2025 | 16 | +33.3% |
* Well below Cascade Locks'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 Cascade Locks departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 23 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 | 4 | 17.4% | |
| 2 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 17.4% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 13.0% | |
| 4 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Service facilities, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 13.0% |
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 Cascade Locks mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 7 | 30.4% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 13.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Match | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 8.7% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cascade Locks sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 599,942 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 | 138,054 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 78,425 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 53,523 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Fireworks | 48,488 | 3.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 33,451 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 28,500 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 24,995 | 18.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Smoking | 24,400 | 3.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 20,296 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20,026 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 18,559 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 17,442 | 37.1 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 | 97014 | 67 |
Six Oregon cities with population within ±25% of Cascade Locks. 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.