In 2025, fire departments serving Chandler responded to 825 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
4,076 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $17.0M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 806 | — | |
| 2022 | 765 | -5.1% | |
| 2023 | 839 | +9.7% | |
| 2024 | 841 | +0.2% | |
| 2025 | 825 | -1.9% |
For the 189 building fires Chandler departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,309 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 | 295 | 22.5% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 198 | 15.1% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 141 | 10.8% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 70 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 54 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 46 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Other | 44 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 41 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 41 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 34 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 345 | 26.4% |
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 Chandler mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 525 | 40.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 216 | 16.5% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 152 | 11.6% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 94 | 7.2% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 83 | 6.3% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 40 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 38 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 27 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 20 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 17 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 97 | 7.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Chandler departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 81% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $180,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Garbage dump or sanitary landfill fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Chandler sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 937,723 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 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 193,455 | 29.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Recreation and ceremony | 123,875 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 72,000 | 34.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 58,960 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 24,729 | 33.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Natural | 24,505 | 29.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Natural | 22,092 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 17,618 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Recreation and ceremony | 17,131 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 16,100 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 14,534 | 41.3 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 Arizona cities with population within ±25% of Chandler. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Chandler.
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.