In 2025, fire departments serving Cushing responded to 55 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
395 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.6M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 67 | — | |
| 2022* | 32 | — | |
| 2023 | 114 | — | |
| 2024 | 127 | +11.4% | |
| 2025 | 55 | -56.7% |
* Well below Cushing'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 6 building fires Cushing departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 242 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 | 81 | 33.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 29 | 12.0% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 21 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 14 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Other | 11 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 10 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 8 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 8 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Function area, other | 6 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 6 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 48 | 19.8% |
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 Cushing mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 97 | 40.1% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 22 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 20 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 15 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 10 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 10 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 7 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 6 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 39 | 16.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Cushing departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $42,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cushing sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 297,252 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Smoking | 58,501 | 18.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 21,860 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 17,683 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 16,423 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 14,910 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 14,000 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 11,382 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 10,816 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 10,216 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 9,636 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 9,429 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 9,080 | 45.0 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 Cushing. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Cushing.
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.