In 2025, fire departments serving Chelan responded to 99 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $394K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 53% of all calls.
May peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
496 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $3.2M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 128 | — | |
| 2022 | 82 | -35.9% | |
| 2023 | 75 | -8.5% | |
| 2024 | 112 | +49.3% | |
| 2025 | 99 | -11.6% |
For the 4 building fires Chelan departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 149 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 | 31 | 20.8% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 19 | 12.8% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 19 | 12.8% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 14 | 9.4% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 8 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Other | 7 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 7 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 5 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 30 | 20.1% |
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 Chelan mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 78 | 52.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 13 | 8.7% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 11 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 9 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 3 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 11 | 7.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Chelan departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $393,774 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $40 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Chelan sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,753,661 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Natural | 255,575 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 223,731 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 189,923 | 43.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 140,000 | 14.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 113,011 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 88,483 | 2.0 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80,053 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 76,817 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 65,621 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 55,913 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 52,711 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 43,874 | 48.6 mi |
Top 5 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Washington cities with population within ±25% of Chelan. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Chelan.
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.