In 2025, fire departments serving Ocean Shores responded to 92 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Ocean Shores's departments reported 92 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 179 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 86% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
893 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $57K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 304 | — | |
| 2022 | 202 | -33.6% | |
| 2023 | 129 | -36.1% | |
| 2024 | 166 | +28.7% | |
| 2025* | 92 | — |
* Well below Ocean Shores'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 4 building fires Ocean Shores departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 81 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 | 27 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 7.4% | |
| 3 | Other | 5 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 4.9% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 4 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Equipment or service area, other | 3 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Wall assembly | 3 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 3 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Function area, other | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 21 | 25.9% |
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 Ocean Shores mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 38 | 46.9% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 10 | 12.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 8.6% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 7 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 4 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Fireworks | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 10 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 4.9% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ocean Shores sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,976 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 229 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 185 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 127 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 119 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2013 | Fireworks | 110 | 17.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 107 | 36.5 mi | |
| 1998 | Debris and open burning | 102 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 45.0 mi | |
| 1992 | Equipment and vehicle use | 98 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 85 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 84 | 49.4 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 62 | 45.8 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 | 98569 | 893 |
Six Washington cities with population within ±25% of Ocean Shores. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Ocean Shores.
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.