In 2025, fire departments serving Okarche responded to 28 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $15K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 82% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
158 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 15 | — | |
| 2022 | 45 | — | |
| 2023 | 34 | -24.4% | |
| 2024 | 36 | +5.9% | |
| 2025 | 28 | -22.2% |
* Well below Okarche'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 0 building fires Okarche departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 36 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 | 25 | 69.4% | |
| 2 | Equipment or service area, other | 3 | 8.3% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 4 | Assembly or sales area, other | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 5 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Outside area, other | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 2.8% |
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 Okarche mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 30 | 83.3% | |
| 2 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 2.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Okarche departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $15,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $12,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Okarche sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 83,858 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 26,000 | 27.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,600 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 6,042 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,840 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,475 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,250 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Firearms and explosives use | 3,000 | 22.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,950 | 24.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,621 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2,484 | 18.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,412 | 16.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,192 | 34.1 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 | 73762 | 158 |
Six Oklahoma cities with population within ±25% of Okarche. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Okarche.
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.