In 2025, fire departments serving Fairbanks responded to 559 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.
May peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,211 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $24.8M cumulative property loss. 7 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 581 | — | |
| 2022 | 800 | +37.7% | |
| 2023 | 602 | -24.8% | |
| 2024 | 669 | +11.1% | |
| 2025 | 559 | -16.4% |
For the 154 building fires Fairbanks departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 867 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 163 | 18.8% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 129 | 14.9% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 53 | 6.1% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 45 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 35 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 31 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 28 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 27 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 26 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 23 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 307 | 35.4% |
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 Fairbanks mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 389 | 44.9% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 88 | 10.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 68 | 7.8% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 42 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 41 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 28 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 24 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 24 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 17 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 16 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 130 | 15.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Fairbanks departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 41% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $200,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fairbanks sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
65 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 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 9 | |
| 20-29 | 22 | |
| 30-39 | 10 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 5 | |
| 60-69 | 6 | |
| 70-79 | 6 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,041,337 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Natural | 537,627 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 125,381 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 112,112 | 20.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 47,154 | 25.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 37,597 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 31,705 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 23,122 | 24.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 22,487 | 24.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 13,766 | 15.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,834 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,208 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 8,593 | 16.1 mi |
Top 10 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Alaska cities with population within ±25% of Fairbanks. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Fairbanks.
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.