In 2025, fire departments serving Lakewood responded to 469 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $511K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 43% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,940 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $17.4M cumulative property loss. 5 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 590 | — | |
| 2022 | 625 | +5.9% | |
| 2023 | 712 | +13.9% | |
| 2024 | 544 | -23.6% | |
| 2025 | 469 | -13.8% |
For the 30 building fires Lakewood departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 707 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 | 241 | 34.1% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 76 | 10.7% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 46 | 6.5% | |
| 4 | Other | 43 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 34 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 30 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 22 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 22 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 16 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 14 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 163 | 23.1% |
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 Lakewood mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 427 | 60.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 39 | 5.5% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 37 | 5.2% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 31 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 27 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 23 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 20 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 18 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 10 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 65 | 9.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lakewood departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 77% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $511,338 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $490,367 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $312,055 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $239,227 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $190,185 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $126,603 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $117,900 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lakewood sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
14 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 12,709 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3,312 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,243 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Fireworks | 1,100 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 817 | 46.9 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 594 | 27.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 494 | 9.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 443 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 420 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 385 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 384 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 359 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 310 | 41.0 mi |
Top 9 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 Lakewood. 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.