In 2025, fire departments serving Meeker responded to 38 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $80K 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 63% of all calls.
Jan peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
142 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $312K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 33 | — | |
| 2022 | 29 | -12.1% | |
| 2023* | 15 | — | |
| 2024 | 27 | — | |
| 2025 | 38 | +40.7% |
* Well below Meeker'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 3 building fires Meeker departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 49 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 | 15 | 30.6% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 10 | 20.4% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 7 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 8.2% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Other | 2 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 6.1% |
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 Meeker mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 16 | 32.7% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 12.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 5 | 10.2% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 10.2% | |
| 5 | Match | 4 | 8.2% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 3 | 6.1% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 4.1% | |
| 10 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 6.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Meeker departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Meeker sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 290,204 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Smoking | 58,501 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 26,000 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 21,860 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 17,299 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 16,423 | 19.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 14,000 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,600 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 9,429 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 9,080 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,954 | 25.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 8,792 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,600 | 48.5 mi |
Top 3 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 Meeker. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Meeker.
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.