In 2025, fire departments serving McAlester responded to 268 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,470 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $24.7M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 208 | — | |
| 2022 | 358 | +72.1% | |
| 2023 | 293 | -18.2% | |
| 2024 | 343 | +17.1% | |
| 2025 | 268 | -21.9% |
For the 29 building fires McAlester departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 471 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 107 | 22.7% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 99 | 21.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 72 | 15.3% | |
| 4 | Other | 50 | 10.6% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 16 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 13 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 12 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 10 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 9 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 8 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 75 | 15.9% |
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 McAlester mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 218 | 46.3% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 43 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Incendiary device | 32 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 26 | 5.5% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 22 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 16 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 16 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 15 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 14 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 11 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 58 | 12.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by McAlester departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 86% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $225,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $150,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $45,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. McAlester sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 195,530 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 21,860 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 17,299 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 14,000 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,880 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 10,436 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,600 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 9,500 | 17.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 9,429 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,680 | 23.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 6,750 | 20.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,400 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,122 | 47.6 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 Oklahoma cities with population within ±25% of McAlester. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in McAlester.
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.