In 2025, fire departments serving Longview responded to 387 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $2.2M 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 66% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,930 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $54.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 363 | — | |
| 2022 | 425 | +17.1% | |
| 2023 | 370 | -12.9% | |
| 2024 | 385 | +4.1% | |
| 2025 | 387 | +0.5% |
For the 86 building fires Longview departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 767 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 | 137 | 17.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 122 | 15.9% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 60 | 7.8% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 57 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 37 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 26 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Other | 24 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 23 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 23 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Cooking area, kitchen | 22 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 236 | 30.8% |
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 Longview mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 305 | 39.8% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 96 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 51 | 6.6% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 39 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 36 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 31 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 28 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 23 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 20 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 20 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 118 | 15.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Longview departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 80% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,200,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $750,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $423,160 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $366,080 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $151,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Longview sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
21 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 | 5 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 6 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 10,370 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Natural | 7,500 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 384 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 211 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 175 | 32.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 166 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 130 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 127 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 126 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Recreation and ceremony | 110 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 110 | 22.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 108 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 106 | 24.0 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 Longview. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Longview.
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.