In 2025, fire departments serving Pawnee responded to 50 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
274 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $550K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 7 | — | |
| 2022 | 99 | — | |
| 2023 | 68 | -31.3% | |
| 2024 | 50 | -26.5% | |
| 2025 | 50 | +0.0% |
* Well below Pawnee'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 3 building fires Pawnee departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 149 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 | Outside area, other | 72 | 48.3% | |
| 2 | Other | 23 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 9 | 6.0% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 6 | 4.0% | |
| 5 | Function area, other | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Structural area, other | 3 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 20 | 13.4% |
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 Pawnee mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 59 | 39.6% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 19 | 12.8% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 13 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 13 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 6 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 3 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 18 | 12.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Pawnee departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $65,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $3,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,925 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Pawnee sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 278,903 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Smoking | 58,501 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 20,307 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 17,683 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 14,910 | 20.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 11,382 | 15.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 11,258 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 10,816 | 28.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 10,216 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 9,636 | 28.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 9,077 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 8,792 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,600 | 36.8 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 Oklahoma cities with population within ±25% of Pawnee. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Pawnee.
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.