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In 2025, fire departments serving Central Point responded to 261 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K 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.
May peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,304 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $3.7M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 205 | — | |
| 2022 | 280 | +36.6% | |
| 2023 | 281 | +0.4% | |
| 2024 | 277 | -1.4% | |
| 2025 | 261 | -5.8% |
For the 31 building fires Central Point departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 298 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 54 | 18.1% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 35 | 11.7% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 25 | 8.4% | |
| 4 | Other | 22 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 17 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 16 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 14 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 13 | 4.4% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 12 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 12 | 4.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 78 | 26.2% |
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 Central Point mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 48 | 16.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 42 | 14.1% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 31 | 10.4% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 29 | 9.7% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 25 | 8.4% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 20 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 18 | 6.0% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 16 | 5.4% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 14 | 4.7% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 7 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 48 | 16.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Central Point departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $3,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $3,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Central Point sits above 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 6 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 973,852 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 | 157,270 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 115,279 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 87,701 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 52,839 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 45,403 | 50.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 38,134 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 38,008 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 35,129 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 33,344 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 33,011 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 32,846 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 32,496 | 31.3 mi |
Top 8 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 Central Point. 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.