In 2025, fire departments serving Kelso responded to 209 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $609K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,217 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $6.8M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 259 | — | |
| 2022 | 250 | -3.5% | |
| 2023 | 269 | +7.6% | |
| 2024 | 230 | -14.5% | |
| 2025 | 209 | -9.1% |
For the 33 building fires Kelso departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 306 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 48 | 15.7% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 34 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 27 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 23 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 18 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 15 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 12 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 12 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 10 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 9 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 98 | 32.0% |
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 Kelso mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 108 | 35.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 39 | 12.7% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 26 | 8.5% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 21 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 18 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 17 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 8 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 44 | 14.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Kelso departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 90% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $609,200 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Kelso sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
10 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 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 35,335 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 24,995 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 7,500 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 384 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 211 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 175 | 32.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 166 | 33.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 145 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 130 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 127 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 126 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Recreation and ceremony | 110 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 110 | 18.5 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 Washington cities with population within ±25% of Kelso. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Kelso.
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.