In 2025, fire departments serving Makaha responded to 23 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $3K 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 91% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
54 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.0M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022* | 0 | — | |
| 2023* | 6 | — | |
| 2024 | 25 | — | |
| 2025 | 23 | -8.0% |
* Well below Makaha'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 1 building fires Makaha departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 10 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 | 3 | 30.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 4 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 10.0% |
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 Makaha mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 6 | 60.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 10.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Makaha departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $3,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Makaha sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 33,954 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,000 | 8.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,820 | 2.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,800 | 9.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,100 | 6.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,700 | 3.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,700 | 3.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,507 | 7.5 mi | |
| 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 5.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,235 | 2.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 5.6 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 2.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 5.5 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 96792 | 54 |
Six Hawaii cities with population within ±25% of Makaha. 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.