In 2025, fire departments serving Kalaeloa responded to 21 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $31K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 86% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
102 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $72K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 18 | — | |
| 2022 | 33 | +83.3% | |
| 2023 | 20 | -39.4% | |
| 2024* | 10 | — | |
| 2025 | 21 | — |
* Well below Kalaeloa'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 2 building fires Kalaeloa departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 19 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 | 9 | 47.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 21.1% | |
| 3 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 5.3% |
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 Kalaeloa mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 17 | 89.5% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 3 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 5.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Kalaeloa departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $31,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Kalaeloa sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 33,954 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,000 | 16.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,820 | 14.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,800 | 5.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,100 | 15.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,700 | 12.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,700 | 13.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,507 | 7.0 mi | |
| 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 19.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,235 | 12.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 19.9 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 14.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 9.2 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Hawaii cities with population within ±25% of Kalaeloa. 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.