Senators Warn Federal Firefighting Budget Nearly Exhausted With Fire Season Not Over
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In 2025, fire departments serving Phoenix responded to 46 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
197 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $45K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 52 | — | |
| 2022 | 33 | -36.5% | |
| 2023* | 21 | — | |
| 2024 | 45 | — | |
| 2025 | 46 | +2.2% |
* Well below Phoenix'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 8 building fires Phoenix departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 58 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 | 12 | 20.7% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 5 | 8.6% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 5 | 8.6% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 4 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 6.9% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 6.9% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 5.2% | |
| 8 | Other | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 15 | 25.9% |
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 Phoenix mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 24 | 41.4% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 13.8% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 5 | 8.6% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 3 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 5.2% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Phoenix sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 874,764 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 157,270 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 115,279 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 52,839 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 45,403 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 38,134 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 38,008 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 35,129 | 28.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 33,344 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 33,011 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 32,846 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 32,496 | 24.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 29,454 | 25.3 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 Oregon cities with population within ±25% of Phoenix. 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.