In 2025, fire departments serving Juneau responded to 198 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $485K 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 67% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
947 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $6.6M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 193 | — | |
| 2022 | 192 | -0.5% | |
| 2023 | 185 | -3.6% | |
| 2024 | 179 | -3.2% | |
| 2025 | 198 | +10.6% |
For the 12 building fires Juneau departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 256 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 33 | 12.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 26 | 10.2% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 22 | 8.6% | |
| 4 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 14 | 5.5% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 14 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 11 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 10 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 10 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 10 | 3.9% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 10 | 3.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 96 | 37.5% |
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 Juneau mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 96 | 37.5% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 31 | 12.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 31 | 12.1% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 18 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 10 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 8 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 6 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 31 | 12.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Juneau departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $485,300 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Juneau sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
18 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 5 | |
| 50-59 | 5 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 5 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 130 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Recreation and ceremony | 56 | 35.8 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 27 | 46.8 mi | |
| 1997 | Recreation and ceremony | 20 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 15 | 24.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 12 | 37.4 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 | 99801 | 947 |
Six Alaska cities with population within ±25% of Juneau. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Juneau.
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.