In 2025, fire departments serving Liberty Lake responded to 10 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Liberty Lake's departments reported 10 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 36 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 70% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
182 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $155K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 63 | — | |
| 2022 | 36 | -42.9% | |
| 2023 | 38 | +5.6% | |
| 2024 | 35 | -7.9% | |
| 2025* | 10 | — |
* Well below Liberty Lake'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 0 building fires Liberty Lake departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 36 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 | 9 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 19.4% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 3 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Other | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 11.1% |
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 Liberty Lake mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 16 | 44.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 13.9% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 3 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 2.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Liberty Lake departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Liberty Lake sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 70,069 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 | 15,269 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Firearms and explosives use | 10,552 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 7,700 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,017 | 17.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 3,840 | 40.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 3,020 | 26.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,172 | 40.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 1,966 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,873 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 1,794 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,783 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,405 | 33.5 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 Washington cities with population within ±25% of Liberty Lake. 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.