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In 2025, fire departments serving Glendale responded to 31 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K 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 74% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
88 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $51K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 17 | — | |
| 2022 | 14 | -17.6% | |
| 2023 | 18 | +28.6% | |
| 2024* | 8 | — | |
| 2025 | 31 | — |
* Well below Glendale'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 4 building fires Glendale departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 22 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 | 10 | 45.5% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 5 | 22.7% | |
| 3 | Storage area, other | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 4.5% |
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 Glendale mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 10 | 45.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Match | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 4.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Glendale departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Glendale sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 741,784 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Natural | 191,125 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 87,701 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 52,839 | 17.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 48,079 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 48,000 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 27,350 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 26,725 | 18.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 26,452 | 23.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 19,188 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 17,697 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 17,524 | 11.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 16,679 | 32.2 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 | 97442 | 88 |
Six Oregon cities with population within ±25% of Glendale. 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.