In 2025, fire departments serving Davis responded to 78 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $725K 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 74% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
508 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $7.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 77 | — | |
| 2022 | 168 | +118.2% | |
| 2023 | 91 | -45.8% | |
| 2024 | 94 | +3.3% | |
| 2025 | 78 | -17.0% |
For the 7 building fires Davis departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 367 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 | 230 | 62.7% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 47 | 12.8% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 18 | 4.9% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 14 | 3.8% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 9 | 2.5% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 1.9% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 1.9% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 6 | 1.6% | |
| 9 | Other | 5 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Equipment or service area, other | 4 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 20 | 5.4% |
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 Davis mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 299 | 81.5% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 9 | 2.5% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 2.2% | |
| 4 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 8 | 2.2% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 6 | 1.6% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 1.4% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 1.4% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 1.4% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 1.1% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 14 | 3.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Davis departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $725,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $120,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $40,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Davis sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 220,214 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 56,688 | 26.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 23,824 | 22.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 19,200 | 19.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,500 | 31.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11,577 | 5.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 8,000 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 8,000 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 7,880 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,000 | 22.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,000 | 10.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,766 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,600 | 49.9 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 73030 | 508 |
Six Oklahoma cities with population within ±25% of Davis. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.