In 2025, fire departments serving Pacific responded to 44 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $131K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 45% of all calls.
Aug peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
237 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $861K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 19 | — | |
| 2022 | 56 | — | |
| 2023 | 59 | +5.4% | |
| 2024 | 59 | +0.0% | |
| 2025 | 44 | -25.4% |
* Well below Pacific'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 4 building fires Pacific departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 69 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 14 | 20.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 9 | 13.0% | |
| 3 | Other | 8 | 11.6% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 7 | 10.1% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 7.2% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 7.2% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 5.8% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 12 | 17.4% |
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 Pacific mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 31 | 44.9% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 11.6% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 5 | 7.2% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 7.2% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 4 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Fireworks | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 5.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Pacific departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $130,810 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $3,000 | Natural vegetation fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Pacific sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 63,710 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 52,056 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3,312 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,243 | 50.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,061 | 38.8 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 594 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 494 | 5.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 420 | 29.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 384 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 360 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 359 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 310 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 302 | 48.9 mi |
Top 4 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 Pacific. 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.