In 2025, fire departments serving Miami responded to 26 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $15K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
155 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 36 | — | |
| 2022* | 15 | — | |
| 2023 | 41 | — | |
| 2024 | 37 | -9.8% | |
| 2025 | 26 | -29.7% |
* Well below Miami'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 6 building fires Miami departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 52 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 | Outside area, other | 9 | 17.3% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 6 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 9.6% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 7.7% | |
| 8 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Other | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 11 | 21.2% |
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 Miami mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 24 | 46.2% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 9.6% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 4 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 5 | 9.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Miami departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Miami sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 909,558 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 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Recreation and ceremony | 123,875 | 19.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 72,000 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 61,821 | 16.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 58,960 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 33,826 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 33,633 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 30,641 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 30,408 | 29.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 29,639 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 28,051 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 24,729 | 24.5 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 Arizona cities with population within ±25% of Miami. 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.