In 2025, fire departments serving Cave Creek responded to 40 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
129 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $171K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022* | 4 | — | |
| 2023 | 34 | — | |
| 2024 | 51 | +50.0% | |
| 2025 | 40 | -21.6% |
* Well below Cave Creek'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 Cave Creek departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 20 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 | 6 | 30.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 5 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Roof surface: exterior | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 10 | Multiple areas | 1 | 5.0% |
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 Cave Creek mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 12 | 60.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Match | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 5.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cave Creek sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 984,853 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Natural | 248,310 | 12.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 193,455 | 28.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 119,500 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 72,000 | 32.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 58,960 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 33,550 | 20.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 28,516 | 41.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Natural | 24,505 | 16.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Natural | 22,092 | 23.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 17,618 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Other causes | 16,240 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 16,100 | 41.4 mi |
Top 3 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 Cave Creek. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Cave Creek.
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.