In 2025, fire departments serving Friday Harbor responded to 97 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $25K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Authorized controlled burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
372 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $2.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 83 | — | |
| 2022 | 87 | +4.8% | |
| 2023 | 67 | -23.0% | |
| 2024* | 38 | — | |
| 2025 | 97 | — |
* Well below Friday Harbor'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 7 building fires Friday Harbor departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 76 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 | 11 | 14.5% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 9 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 8 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 7 | 9.2% | |
| 6 | Other | 5 | 6.6% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 4 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 17 | 22.4% |
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 Friday Harbor mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 36 | 47.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 6.6% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 5 | 6.6% | |
| 4 | Chemical reaction | 5 | 6.6% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 3 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Radiated heat from another fire | 3 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Candle | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 11.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Friday Harbor departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $3,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $3,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $600 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Friday Harbor sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,120 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Natural | 820 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 89 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 84 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 58 | 43.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 50 | 25.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Fireworks | 50 | 42.9 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 48 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 48 | 28.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 24.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 37 | 42.5 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 | 98250 | 372 |
Six Washington cities with population within ±25% of Friday Harbor. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Friday Harbor.
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.