In 2025, fire departments serving Oracle responded to 30 fire and hazmat incidents . 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 57% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
168 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $650 cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 24 | — | |
| 2022 | 48 | +100.0% | |
| 2023 | 34 | -29.2% | |
| 2024 | 32 | -5.9% | |
| 2025 | 30 | -6.2% |
For the 1 building fires Oracle departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 66 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 | 49 | 74.2% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 3 | 4.5% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 4.5% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 3.0% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 3.0% | |
| 6 | Other | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 7 | Function area, other | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Office | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 3.0% |
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 Oracle mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 54 | 81.8% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 2 | 3.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 3.0% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 3.0% | |
| 5 | Fireworks | 2 | 3.0% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 8 | Incendiary device | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 1.5% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Oracle sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 479,913 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Natural | 119,978 | 18.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 82,440 | 12.3 mi | |
| 1993 | Natural | 35,696 | 25.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30,600 | 19.1 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 29,400 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 27,259 | 18.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 19,506 | 35.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 14,590 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 13,057 | 29.3 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,495 | 12.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 11,809 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 8,832 | 39.8 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 Arizona cities with population within ±25% of Oracle. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Oracle.
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.