In 2025, fire departments serving Kotzebue responded to 13 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $275K 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 77% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
56 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $747K cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 11 | — | |
| 2022 | 11 | +0.0% | |
| 2023 | 15 | +36.4% | |
| 2024* | 6 | — | |
| 2025 | 13 | — |
* Well below Kotzebue'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 6 building fires Kotzebue departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 42 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 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 7 | 16.7% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 5 | 11.9% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 9.5% | |
| 5 | Entrance way, lobby | 3 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Egress/exit, other | 3 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 7.1% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 4.8% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 8 | 19.0% |
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 Kotzebue mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 10 | 23.8% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 5 | 11.9% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 11.9% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 11.9% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 5 | 11.9% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 9.5% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 7.1% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 2.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Kotzebue departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $275,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $2,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Kotzebue sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 8 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,645 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Natural | 600 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 332 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 298 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 150 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 103 | 19.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 15.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Smoking | 57 | 24.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 35 | 41.5 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 | 99752 | 56 |
Six Alaska cities with population within ±25% of Kotzebue. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Kotzebue.
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.