In 2025, fire departments serving Del City responded to 175 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $80K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
327 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $602K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 135 | — | |
| 2022* | 10 | — | |
| 2023* | 5 | — | |
| 2024* | 2 | — | |
| 2025 | 175 | — |
* Well below Del City'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 12 building fires Del City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 106 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 | 26 | 24.5% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 13 | 12.3% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 11 | 10.4% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 6 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 5 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Other | 4 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 3.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 22 | 20.8% |
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 Del City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 54 | 50.9% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 11 | 10.4% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 8.5% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 9 | 8.5% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 8 | 7.5% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 6.6% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Lightning | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 0.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 0.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Del City departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 90% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $35,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $12,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Del City sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 103,143 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 26,000 | 11.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,954 | 21.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,600 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,766 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,500 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,400 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,840 | 25.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3,500 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,475 | 5.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,250 | 23.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Firearms and explosives use | 3,000 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,950 | 39.4 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 Oklahoma cities with population within ±25% of Del City. 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.