In 2025, fire departments serving Point Roberts responded to 26 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Point Roberts's departments reported 26 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 45 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 92% of all calls.
May peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
223 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $54K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 31 | — | |
| 2022 | 80 | +158.1% | |
| 2023 | 50 | -37.5% | |
| 2024 | 36 | -28.0% | |
| 2025* | 26 | — |
* Well below Point Roberts'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 0 building fires Point Roberts departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 43 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 | 20 | 46.5% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 16.3% | |
| 3 | Other | 2 | 4.7% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 4.7% | |
| 5 | Storage area, other | 2 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 2 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Structural area, other | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 7.0% |
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 Point Roberts mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Match | 17 | 39.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 15 | 34.9% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 3 | 7.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 4.7% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Chemical, natural heat source, other | 1 | 2.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Point Roberts departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $300 | Authorized controlled burning | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1 | Unauthorized burning | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Point Roberts sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 17 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 502 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 61 | 41.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Fireworks | 50 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 48 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Fireworks | 32 | 37.4 mi | |
| 1993 | Recreation and ceremony | 27 | 37.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 26 | 32.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 21.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 38.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 19 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Smoking | 18 | 38.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 15 | 26.1 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 | 98281 | 223 |
Six Washington cities with population within ±25% of Point Roberts. 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.