In 2025, fire departments serving North Pole responded to 178 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $748K 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 57% of all calls.
May peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,022 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $10.0M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 252 | — | |
| 2022 | 221 | -12.3% | |
| 2023 | 172 | -22.2% | |
| 2024 | 199 | +15.7% | |
| 2025 | 178 | -10.6% |
For the 45 building fires North Pole departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 359 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 | Undetermined | 67 | 18.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 63 | 17.5% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 28 | 7.8% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 24 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 15 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 14 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Exterior, exposed surface | 14 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 13 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 11 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 9 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 101 | 28.1% |
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 North Pole mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 139 | 38.7% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 47 | 13.1% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 24 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 23 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 22 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 17 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 15 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Radiated heat from another fire | 15 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 7 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 7 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 43 | 12.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by North Pole departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 79% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $748,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $201,256 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $55,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. North Pole sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
13 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 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 4 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,101,806 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Natural | 537,627 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 125,381 | 33.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 112,112 | 25.7 mi | |
| 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 87,154 | 23.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 47,154 | 17.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 37,597 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 33,452 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 17,498 | 25.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 14,200 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 13,766 | 22.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,969 | 26.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,208 | 36.9 mi |
Top 5 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Alaska cities with population within ±25% of North Pole. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in North Pole.
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.