In 2025, fire departments serving El Reno responded to 264 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $3.9M 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 45% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,440 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $7.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 282 | — | |
| 2022 | 345 | +22.3% | |
| 2023 | 271 | -21.4% | |
| 2024 | 278 | +2.6% | |
| 2025 | 264 | -5.0% |
For the 17 building fires El Reno departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 609 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 112 | 18.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 103 | 16.9% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 81 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 49 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 36 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 32 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 17 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 17 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 16 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 15 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 131 | 21.5% |
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 El Reno mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 361 | 59.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 39 | 6.4% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 27 | 4.4% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 26 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 26 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Fireworks | 19 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 14 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 11 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 11 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 65 | 10.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by El Reno departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $3,925,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $300,000 | Rail vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $125,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $120,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $61,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $35,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. El Reno sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
11 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 102,591 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 | 19.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,954 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,600 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,766 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,500 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,840 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,475 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,250 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,000 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Firearms and explosives use | 3,000 | 13.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,000 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,950 | 13.7 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 El Reno. 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.