In 2025, fire departments serving Olympia responded to 1,088 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $18.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 53% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
6,580 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $35.0M cumulative property loss. 10 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,378 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,421 | +3.1% | |
| 2023 | 1,488 | +4.7% | |
| 2024 | 1,205 | -19.0% | |
| 2025 | 1,088 | -9.7% |
For the 106 building fires Olympia departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,315 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 | 248 | 18.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 135 | 10.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 134 | 10.2% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 83 | 6.3% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 75 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 64 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Other | 53 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 53 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 39 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 35 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 396 | 30.1% |
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 Olympia mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 663 | 50.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 93 | 7.1% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 60 | 4.6% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 59 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 56 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 56 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 42 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 35 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 32 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 30 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 189 | 14.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Olympia departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 93% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $18,000,000 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Catastrophic | Investigated |
| 2 | $600,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $180,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Olympia sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
20 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 5 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 11,594 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3,312 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,243 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Fireworks | 1,100 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 817 | 46.2 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 594 | 19.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 494 | 28.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 443 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 385 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 384 | 15.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 359 | 34.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 294 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 275 | 31.7 mi |
Top 10 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Washington cities with population within ±25% of Olympia. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Olympia.
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.