In 2025, fire departments serving Cottonwood responded to 142 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 48% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
685 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.5M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 131 | — | |
| 2022 | 146 | +11.5% | |
| 2023 | 146 | +0.0% | |
| 2024 | 120 | -17.8% | |
| 2025 | 142 | +18.3% |
For the 12 building fires Cottonwood departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 128 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 | 29 | 22.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 20 | 15.6% | |
| 3 | Other | 9 | 7.0% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 9 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 32 | 25.0% |
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 Cottonwood mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 69 | 53.9% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 10 | 7.8% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 7 | 5.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 5.5% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 16 | 12.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Cottonwood departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $4,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $2,500 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $2,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $2,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,500 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cottonwood sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
43 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 | 12 | |
| 40-49 | 17 | |
| 50-59 | 5 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 476,501 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Natural | 119,500 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 33,850 | 34.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 33,550 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 28,516 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 23,885 | 37.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 22,077 | 21.3 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 17,218 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 16,790 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Recreation and ceremony | 16,738 | 49.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 16,400 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Other causes | 16,240 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 15,333 | 32.2 mi |
Top 3 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 Cottonwood. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Cottonwood.
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.