In 2025, fire departments serving Patterson responded to 108 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 59% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
139 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $366K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 17 | — | |
| 2022* | 14 | — | |
| 2023* | 0 | — | |
| 2024* | 0 | — | |
| 2025 | 108 | — |
* Well below Patterson'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 5 building fires Patterson departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 23 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 | 8 | 34.8% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 4 | 17.4% | |
| 3 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 8.7% |
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 Patterson mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 10 | 43.5% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 4 | 17.4% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 13.0% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Lightning | 1 | 4.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Patterson departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 94% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $36,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $22,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $7,700 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Patterson sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 701,398 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Natural | 309,200 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 191,474 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 68,361 | 24.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 22,246 | 26.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 19,198 | 26.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 14,128 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 12,485 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 7,800 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 6,960 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,780 | 50.0 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 4,867 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 4,035 | 34.4 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 31557 | 139 |
Six Georgia cities with population within ±25% of Patterson. 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.