In 2025, fire departments serving Maricopa responded to 259 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,053 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 169 | — | |
| 2022 | 173 | +2.4% | |
| 2023 | 197 | +13.9% | |
| 2024 | 255 | +29.4% | |
| 2025 | 259 | +1.6% |
For the 44 building fires Maricopa departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 207 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 | 56 | 27.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 30 | 14.5% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 19 | 9.2% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 15 | 7.2% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 12 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 6 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 5 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Other | 4 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 46 | 22.2% |
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 Maricopa mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 91 | 44.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 24 | 11.6% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 18 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 14 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 2.4% | |
| 7 | Explosive, fireworks, other | 5 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 4 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 30 | 14.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Maricopa departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 78% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $15,000 | Natural vegetation fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $11,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Maricopa sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
10 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 349,902 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 193,455 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 24,729 | 47.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Natural | 24,505 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Recreation and ceremony | 17,131 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 9,539 | 43.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,500 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 6,660 | 26.7 mi | |
| 1993 | Equipment and vehicle use | 6,628 | 49.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 6,512 | 19.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Recreation and ceremony | 6,229 | 18.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 5,243 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 5,000 | 17.0 mi |
Top 7 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Arizona cities with population within ±25% of Maricopa. 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.