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In 2025, fire departments serving Grants Pass responded to 445 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $371K 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 65% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,596 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $4.5M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 654 | — | |
| 2022 | 701 | +7.2% | |
| 2023 | 407 | -41.9% | |
| 2024 | 389 | -4.4% | |
| 2025 | 445 | +14.4% |
For the 52 building fires Grants Pass departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 511 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 | 100 | 19.6% | |
| 2 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 74 | 14.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 56 | 11.0% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 45 | 8.8% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 37 | 7.2% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 26 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 16 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 16 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 15 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 13 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 113 | 22.1% |
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 Grants Pass mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 291 | 56.9% | |
| 2 | Cigarette | 43 | 8.4% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 23 | 4.5% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 23 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 14 | 2.7% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 14 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 14 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 12 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 10 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 10 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 57 | 11.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Grants Pass departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 85% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $370,500 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $25,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Grants Pass sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,560,884 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Natural | 499,945 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 191,125 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 157,270 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 115,279 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 87,701 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 52,839 | 13.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 45,403 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 38,134 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 33,011 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 32,846 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 32,496 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 29,454 | 30.3 mi |
Top 6 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 Grants Pass. 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.