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In 2025, fire departments serving John Day responded to 19 fire and hazmat incidents . 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.
Nov peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
66 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 17 | — | |
| 2022 | 12 | -29.4% | |
| 2023 | 12 | +0.0% | |
| 2024* | 6 | — | |
| 2025 | 19 | — |
* Well below John Day'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 1 building fires John Day departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 36 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 | 13 | 36.1% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 5 | 13.9% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 5 | 13.9% | |
| 4 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 3 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Other | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 8.3% |
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 John Day mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 12 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 3 | 8.3% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 3 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Chemical reaction | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Lightning | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 11.1% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. John Day sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 743,136 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Natural | 101,028 | 7.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 64,531 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 53,448 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 52,891 | 45.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 50,633 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 48,849 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Other causes | 47,860 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 43,799 | 28.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 37,835 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 32,352 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 29,660 | 28.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 24,667 | 34.7 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 | 97845 | 66 |
Six Oregon cities with population within ±25% of John Day. 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.