In 2025, fire departments serving Mesa responded to 1,976 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $600K 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 52% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
9,628 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $85.9M cumulative property loss. 6 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,744 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,972 | +13.1% | |
| 2023 | 2,058 | +4.4% | |
| 2024 | 1,878 | -8.7% | |
| 2025 | 1,976 | +5.2% |
For the 290 building fires Mesa departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 2,317 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 471 | 20.3% | |
| 2 | Vehicle area, other | 248 | 10.7% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 218 | 9.4% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 178 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 142 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 75 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 68 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 65 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 65 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Exterior, exposed surface | 63 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 724 | 31.2% |
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 Mesa mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 796 | 34.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 416 | 18.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 303 | 13.1% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 186 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 158 | 6.8% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 96 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 81 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 35 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 24 | 1.0% | |
| 10 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 24 | 1.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 198 | 8.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Mesa departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 30% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $600,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $600,000 | Aircraft fire | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $575,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 7 | $450,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 8 | $428,012 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Mesa sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
177 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 | 10 | |
| 20-29 | 30 | |
| 30-39 | 35 | |
| 40-49 | 24 | |
| 50-59 | 22 | |
| 60-69 | 22 | |
| 70-79 | 18 | |
| 80+ | 8 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,063,078 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Natural | 248,310 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 193,455 | 17.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Recreation and ceremony | 123,875 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 119,500 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 72,000 | 23.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 58,960 | 30.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 24,729 | 24.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Natural | 24,505 | 20.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Natural | 22,092 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 21,670 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 17,618 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 16,100 | 33.8 mi |
Top 10 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 Mesa. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Mesa.
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.