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In 2025, fire departments serving Cave Junction responded to 76 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 66% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
597 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 161 | — | |
| 2022 | 194 | +20.5% | |
| 2023* | 46 | — | |
| 2024 | 120 | — | |
| 2025 | 76 | -36.7% |
* Well below Cave Junction'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 3 building fires Cave Junction departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 120 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 | 17 | 14.2% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 16 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 15 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 11 | 9.2% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 10 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 8 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Function area, other | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 28 | 23.3% |
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 Junction mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 56 | 46.7% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 11 | 9.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 8 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 7 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 14 | 11.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Cave Junction departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $6,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $4,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,500 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cave Junction sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,622,355 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Natural | 499,945 | 16.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 191,125 | 18.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 157,270 | 26.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 115,279 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 87,701 | 17.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 65,834 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 52,839 | 23.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 45,403 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 44,452 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 38,134 | 15.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 33,011 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 32,846 | 28.9 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Oregon cities with population within ±25% of Cave Junction. 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.