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In 2025, fire departments serving Pendleton responded to 240 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K 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 49% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
967 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $3.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 140 | — | |
| 2022 | 183 | +30.7% | |
| 2023 | 187 | +2.2% | |
| 2024 | 217 | +16.0% | |
| 2025 | 240 | +10.6% |
For the 15 building fires Pendleton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 311 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 | 91 | 29.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 33 | 10.6% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 26 | 8.4% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 24 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 21 | 6.8% | |
| 6 | Other | 18 | 5.8% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 15 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 10 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 9 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 7 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 57 | 18.3% |
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 Pendleton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 88 | 28.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 29 | 9.3% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 28 | 9.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 27 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 21 | 6.8% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 14 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 14 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 13 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Match | 12 | 3.9% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 11 | 3.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 54 | 17.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Pendleton departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 91% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Special outside fire, other | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $167,200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $60,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Pendleton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
9 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 405,379 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Natural | 109,259 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 78,000 | 45.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 50,633 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 21,620 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,756 | 24.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,377 | 22.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 11,081 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,929 | 24.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 9,230 | 42.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 8,988 | 22.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 8,480 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,212 | 9.4 mi |
Top 7 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Oregon cities with population within ±25% of Pendleton. 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.