In 2025, fire departments serving Garland responded to 19 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $45K 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 79% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
96 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $109K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 28 | — | |
| 2022* | 7 | — | |
| 2023 | 18 | — | |
| 2024 | 24 | +33.3% | |
| 2025 | 19 | -20.8% |
* Well below Garland'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 5 building fires Garland departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 36 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 16.7% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 6 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 3 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Other | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 13.9% |
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 Garland mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 9 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 5 | 13.9% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 22.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Garland departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $45,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $3,500 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $400 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Garland sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 338,346 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Natural | 40,000 | 22.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 31,568 | 37.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 31,395 | 25.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 20,616 | 14.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 19,482 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 16,312 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 15,046 | 14.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 13,784 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 13,177 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 12,498 | 32.5 mi | |
| 1992 | Natural | 12,265 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 11,200 | 21.1 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 | 84312 | 96 |
Six Utah cities with population within ±25% of Garland. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Garland.
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.