In 2025, fire departments serving Ferndale responded to 163 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M 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 48% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,022 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $4.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 251 | — | |
| 2022 | 189 | -24.7% | |
| 2023 | 212 | +12.2% | |
| 2024 | 207 | -2.4% | |
| 2025 | 163 | -21.3% |
For the 10 building fires Ferndale departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 220 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 | 90 | 40.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 21 | 9.5% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 14 | 6.4% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 11 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 9 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Other | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Equipment or service area, other | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 49 | 22.3% |
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 Ferndale mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 135 | 61.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 11 | 5.0% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 11 | 5.0% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 3.2% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 6 | 2.7% | |
| 6 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 6 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Explosive, fireworks, other | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 24 | 10.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Ferndale departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $7,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ferndale sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,193 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Natural | 173 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 15.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 94 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 89 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 67 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 61 | 20.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 61 | 35.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Fireworks | 50 | 17.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 48 | 15.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 44 | 43.4 mi | |
| 1992 | Natural | 40 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 40 | 42.9 mi |
Top 5 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Washington cities with population within ±25% of Ferndale. 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.