In 2025, fire departments serving Paauilo responded to 31 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1K 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 87% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
111 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $132K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 33 | — | |
| 2022 | 15 | -54.5% | |
| 2023 | 18 | +20.0% | |
| 2024 | 14 | -22.2% | |
| 2025 | 31 | +121.4% |
For the 0 building fires Paauilo departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 35 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 | 14 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 22.9% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Other | 3 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 8.6% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 2.9% |
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 Paauilo mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 24 | 68.6% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 3 | 8.6% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 4 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Conducted heat from another fire | 1 | 2.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Paauilo departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Paauilo sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 120,866 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 | 25,000 | 21.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 18,000 | 24.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,000 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,138 | 27.8 mi | |
| 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,500 | 26.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,000 | 38.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,700 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3,884 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3,572 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,800 | 13.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,800 | 21.8 mi | |
| 1992 | Recreation and ceremony | 2,800 | 29.4 mi |
Top 3 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Hawaii cities with population within ±25% of Paauilo. 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.