In 2025, fire departments serving Fox Island responded to 34 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K 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 74% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
107 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $510K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 22 | — | |
| 2022 | 31 | +40.9% | |
| 2023 | 19 | -38.7% | |
| 2024* | 1 | — | |
| 2025 | 34 | — |
* Well below Fox Island'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 3 building fires Fox Island departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 14 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 | 6 | 42.9% | |
| 2 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 21.4% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 3 | 21.4% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 7.1% |
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 Fox Island mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 35.7% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Fireworks | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 8 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 7.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Fox Island departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $9,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fox Island sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 12,785 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3,312 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,243 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Fireworks | 1,100 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 817 | 39.5 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 594 | 21.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 494 | 13.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 443 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 420 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 385 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 384 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 359 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 310 | 47.4 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 | 98333 | 107 |
Six Washington cities with population within ±25% of Fox Island. 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.