In 2025, fire departments serving Kettle Falls responded to 58 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Forest, woods or wildland fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
201 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 47 | — | |
| 2022 | 37 | -21.3% | |
| 2023 | 39 | +5.4% | |
| 2024* | 20 | — | |
| 2025 | 58 | — |
* Well below Kettle Falls'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 3 building fires Kettle Falls departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 136 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 | Outside area, other | 36 | 26.5% | |
| 2 | Wildland, woods | 18 | 13.2% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 16 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 11 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 9 | 6.6% | |
| 6 | Function area, other | 7 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Structural area, other | 7 | 5.1% | |
| 8 | Other | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 23 | 16.9% |
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 Kettle Falls mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 68 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 7.4% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 9 | 6.6% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 9 | 6.6% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Lightning | 6 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 5 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Match | 5 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 6.6% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Kettle Falls sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 487,065 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 218,138 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 64,007 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 54,354 | 21.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 19,005 | 19.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 17,459 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 13,105 | 13.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 12,764 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11,797 | 31.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 10,580 | 20.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 8,615 | 12.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 6,144 | 23.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 5,889 | 25.9 mi |
Top 4 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 Kettle Falls. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Kettle Falls.
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.