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In 2025, fire departments serving Lebanon responded to 273 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $123K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,314 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $7.0M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 242 | — | |
| 2022 | 158 | -34.7% | |
| 2023 | 352 | +122.8% | |
| 2024 | 289 | -17.9% | |
| 2025 | 273 | -5.5% |
For the 19 building fires Lebanon departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 265 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 | 53 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 42 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 21 | 7.9% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 18 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 13 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 10 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 9 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 8 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 8 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 8 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 75 | 28.3% |
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 Lebanon mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 128 | 48.3% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 21 | 7.9% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 18 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 16 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 15 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 12 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 11 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 7 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 7 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 4 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 26 | 9.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lebanon departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 75% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $122,976 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $122,861 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $120,730 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $110,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,135 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $80,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lebanon sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
32 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 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 6 | |
| 50-59 | 4 | |
| 60-69 | 7 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 410,661 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 193,573 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 173,393 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Smoking | 11,555 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 10,114 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,964 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 3,587 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 2,810 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,584 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 2,033 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 1,070 | 23.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 790 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 695 | 46.5 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 Oregon cities with population within ±25% of Lebanon. 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.