In 2025, fire departments serving Nikiski responded to 114 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $697K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 77% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
458 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $3.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 70 | — | |
| 2022 | 104 | +48.6% | |
| 2023 | 68 | -34.6% | |
| 2024 | 102 | +50.0% | |
| 2025 | 114 | +11.8% |
For the 13 building fires Nikiski departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 111 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 | 19 | 17.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 12 | 10.8% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 7 | 6.3% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Wall assembly | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 42 | 37.8% |
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 Nikiski mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 33 | 29.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 18 | 16.2% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 16 | 14.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Candle | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 19 | 17.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Nikiski departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $696,600 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $180,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Nikiski sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 24 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 513,280 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 196,722 | 21.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 167,182 | 27.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 56,254 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 26,300 | 43.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 17,510 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 13,221 | 28.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 10,131 | 32.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,876 | 25.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 8,600 | 47.9 mi | |
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 2,800 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 1,960 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,906 | 25.7 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 99635 | 458 |
Six Alaska cities with population within ±25% of Nikiski. 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.