In 2025, fire departments serving Pauls Valley responded to 104 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $125K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
609 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $278K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 117 | — | |
| 2022 | 168 | +43.6% | |
| 2023 | 118 | -29.8% | |
| 2024 | 102 | -13.6% | |
| 2025 | 104 | +2.0% |
For the 8 building fires Pauls Valley departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 224 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 | 70 | 31.2% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 32 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 15 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 13 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 12 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 11 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Other | 9 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 7 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 6 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 44 | 19.6% |
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 Pauls Valley mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 131 | 58.5% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 22 | 9.8% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 14 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 4.0% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 14 | 6.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Pauls Valley departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $2,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Pauls Valley sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 237,266 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 56,688 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 23,824 | 26.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 19,200 | 24.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,500 | 29.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11,577 | 23.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,954 | 33.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 8,000 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 8,000 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 7,880 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,000 | 8.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,000 | 16.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,766 | 30.1 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 | 73075 | 609 |
Six Oklahoma cities with population within ±25% of Pauls Valley. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Pauls Valley.
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.