In 2025, fire departments serving Cookson responded to 29 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 83% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
34 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022* | 1 | — | |
| 2023* | 1 | — | |
| 2024* | 1 | — | |
| 2025 | 29 | — |
* Well below Cookson'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 1 building fires Cookson departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 31 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 | 24 | 77.4% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 3 | Other | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 4 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 6 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 3.2% |
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 Cookson mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 25 | 80.6% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 3.2% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cookson sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 106,285 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 14,000 | 12.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,880 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 8,080 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,240 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,120 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,370 | 23.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,050 | 9.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,960 | 34.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,900 | 15.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,800 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,700 | 9.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,700 | 14.0 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 Oklahoma cities with population within ±25% of Cookson. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Cookson.
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.