In 2025, fire departments serving Parks responded to 21 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Forest, woods or wildland fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 81% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
71 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $231K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022* | 6 | — | |
| 2023 | 11 | — | |
| 2024 | 31 | +181.8% | |
| 2025 | 21 | -32.3% |
* Well below Parks'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 1 building fires Parks departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 19 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 | 8 | 42.1% | |
| 2 | Other | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Outside area, other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 5.3% |
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 Parks mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 13 | 68.4% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 1 | 5.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Parks departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Parks sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 257,531 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Natural | 23,885 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 22,077 | 26.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 17,788 | 12.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 17,218 | 39.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 16,400 | 13.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Recreation and ceremony | 15,075 | 19.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 13,790 | 12.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 10,788 | 10.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 10,748 | 2.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 8,871 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 8,759 | 7.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 8,650 | 14.0 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 Parks. 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.