In 2025, fire departments serving Kodiak responded to 98 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Oil or other combustible liquid spill lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
455 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $3.2M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 80 | — | |
| 2022 | 63 | -21.2% | |
| 2023 | 79 | +25.4% | |
| 2024 | 135 | +70.9% | |
| 2025 | 98 | -27.4% |
For the 14 building fires Kodiak departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 111 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 | 16 | 14.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 12 | 10.8% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 7.2% | |
| 4 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 5 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Vacant structural area | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 48 | 43.2% |
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 Kodiak mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 32 | 28.8% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 23 | 20.7% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 16 | 14.4% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 13 | 11.7% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 7.2% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Molten, hot material | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 5.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Kodiak departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Water vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Kodiak sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 8 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,025 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 4,862 | 13.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Smoking | 1,200 | 29.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 500 | 32.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 320 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 91 | 19.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 32 | 19.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 10 | 17.3 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 | 10.1 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 Alaska cities with population within ±25% of Kodiak. 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.