In 2025, fire departments serving Golden Valley responded to 159 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $260K 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 52% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
539 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $2.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 43 | — | |
| 2022 | 131 | — | |
| 2023 | 144 | +9.9% | |
| 2024* | 62 | — | |
| 2025 | 159 | — |
* Well below Golden Valley'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 13 building fires Golden Valley departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 186 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 | 83 | 44.6% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 24 | 12.9% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 11 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 6 | 3.2% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 3.2% | |
| 6 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Exterior, exposed surface | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 3 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 37 | 19.9% |
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 Golden Valley mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 127 | 68.3% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 9 | 4.8% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 9 | 4.8% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 8 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 7 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 3 | 1.6% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 1.1% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 1.1% | |
| 10 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 2 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 15 | 8.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Golden Valley departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 83% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $260,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $180,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $75,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Golden Valley sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 166,412 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Natural | 22,477 | 30.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 21,276 | 28.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 18,392 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 12,637 | 9.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 11,927 | 11.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,380 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 7,897 | 44.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Natural | 6,687 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 6,083 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 5,413 | 21.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 5,000 | 20.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 3,887 | 33.0 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 Arizona cities with population within ±25% of Golden Valley. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Golden Valley.
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.