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In 2025, fire departments serving Hillsboro responded to 534 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Cultivated vegetation, crop fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,962 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $5.4M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 737 | — | |
| 2022 | 655 | -11.1% | |
| 2023 | 559 | -14.7% | |
| 2024 | 477 | -14.7% | |
| 2025 | 534 | +11.9% |
For the 29 building fires Hillsboro departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 885 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 | 409 | 46.2% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 69 | 7.8% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 52 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 49 | 5.5% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 48 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 43 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 21 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 17 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 17 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Other | 16 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 144 | 16.3% |
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 Hillsboro mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot ember or ash | 284 | 32.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 250 | 28.2% | |
| 3 | Cigarette | 84 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 50 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 34 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 27 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 26 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 23 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 22 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 18 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 67 | 7.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hillsboro departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 83% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $75,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hillsboro sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 21,789 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 | 14.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,508 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,584 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,508 | 29.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 532 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 497 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Smoking | 370 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 303 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 301 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 260 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 40.8 mi |
Top 10 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 Hillsboro. 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.