In 2025, fire departments serving Paulden responded to 27 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 70% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
67 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $797K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022* | 1 | — | |
| 2023 | 11 | — | |
| 2024 | 28 | +154.5% | |
| 2025 | 27 | -3.6% |
* Well below Paulden'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 Paulden 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 | 5 | 26.3% | |
| 2 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Storage area, other | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 9 | Structural area, other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 10 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 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 Paulden mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 9 | 47.4% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 3 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 5.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Paulden departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $17,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Fire in portable building, fixed location | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $2,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Paulden sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
59 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 13 | |
| 30-39 | 17 | |
| 40-49 | 18 | |
| 50-59 | 6 | |
| 60-69 | 4 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 282,143 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Natural | 32,126 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 28,516 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 22,077 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 21,510 | 26.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 18,072 | 21.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Other causes | 16,240 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 12,500 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 10,788 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 10,748 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,537 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 8,877 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 8,759 | 47.9 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 | 86334 | 67 |
Six Arizona cities with population within ±25% of Paulden. 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.