In 2025, fire departments serving La Conner responded to 59 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 83% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
268 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 92 | — | |
| 2022 | 52 | -43.5% | |
| 2023 | 34 | -34.6% | |
| 2024* | 31 | — | |
| 2025 | 59 | — |
* Well below La Conner'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 11 building fires La Conner departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 86 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 | 15 | 17.4% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 14 | 16.3% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 9 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 9.3% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 7.0% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 5.8% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Other | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 19 | 22.1% |
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 La Conner mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 38 | 44.2% | |
| 2 | Fireworks | 10 | 11.6% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 7.0% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 5 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 3 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Match | 3 | 3.5% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 8.1% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. La Conner sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,589 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Natural | 200 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 173 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 28.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 94 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 89 | 18.6 mi | |
| 1993 | Equipment and vehicle use | 70 | 30.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 68 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 67 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 61 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 61 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Smoking | 60 | 30.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 50 | 34.6 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 La Conner. 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.