In 2025, fire departments serving Omak responded to 110 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
625 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $5.7M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 112 | — | |
| 2022 | 146 | +30.4% | |
| 2023 | 100 | -31.5% | |
| 2024 | 157 | +57.0% | |
| 2025 | 110 | -29.9% |
For the 5 building fires Omak departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 235 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 | 105 | 44.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 29 | 12.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 12 | 5.1% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 8 | 3.4% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 7 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 6 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Other | 5 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 46 | 19.6% |
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 Omak mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 172 | 73.2% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 9 | 3.8% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 3.8% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 3.0% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 6 | 2.6% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 1.7% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 4 | 1.7% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 4 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 11 | 4.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Omak departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $814,500 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $252,300 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $65,900 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $65,900 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Omak sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,926,763 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Natural | 255,575 | 26.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 223,731 | 25.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 218,138 | 24.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 189,923 | 4.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 165,883 | 7.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 132,646 | 12.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 113,011 | 24.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 88,483 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 81,343 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 76,817 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 62,173 | 28.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 43,373 | 46.3 mi |
Top 2 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 Omak. 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.