In 2025, fire departments serving Ephraim responded to 38 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Cooking fire, confined to container lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
170 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $800K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 25 | — | |
| 2022 | 31 | +24.0% | |
| 2023 | 36 | +16.1% | |
| 2024 | 40 | +11.1% | |
| 2025 | 38 | -5.0% |
For the 3 building fires Ephraim departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 105 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 27 | 25.7% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 23 | 21.9% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 19 | 18.1% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 9 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Other | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Exterior, exposed surface | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 11 | 10.5% |
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 Ephraim mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Match | 25 | 23.8% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 24 | 22.9% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 20 | 19.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 8 | 7.6% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 4 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Lightning | 4 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 2.9% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ephraim sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 866,224 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 107,847 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 102,191 | 31.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 89,148 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 78,065 | 41.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 58,707 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 48,986 | 23.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 47,387 | 17.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 37,923 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 33,838 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 31,661 | 42.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 28,442 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25,456 | 26.4 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 | 84627 | 170 |
Six Utah cities with population within ±25% of Ephraim. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Ephraim.
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.