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In 2025, fire departments serving Gaston responded to 37 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $8K 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 65% of all calls.
May peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
259 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $386K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 91 | — | |
| 2022 | 79 | -13.2% | |
| 2023 | 41 | -48.1% | |
| 2024* | 11 | — | |
| 2025 | 37 | — |
* Well below Gaston'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 Gaston departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 55 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 | Wildland, woods | 13 | 23.6% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 14.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 7 | 12.7% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 10.9% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 7.3% | |
| 6 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 3 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 3 | 5.5% | |
| 8 | Corridor, mall | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 8 | 14.5% |
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 Gaston mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 22 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 16.4% | |
| 3 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 5 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 5.5% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 3 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 10.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Gaston departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Special outside fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Gaston sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 18,836 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Natural | 7,500 | 26.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,584 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,552 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,508 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 532 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 497 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 376 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 303 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 301 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 281 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 254 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 44.0 mi |
Top 3 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Oregon cities with population within ±25% of Gaston. 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.