In 2025, fire departments serving Ponca City responded to 245 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 48% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,143 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $5.4M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 150 | — | |
| 2022 | 277 | +84.7% | |
| 2023 | 234 | -15.5% | |
| 2024 | 237 | +1.3% | |
| 2025 | 245 | +3.4% |
For the 15 building fires Ponca City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 577 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 | 140 | 24.3% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 131 | 22.7% | |
| 3 | Other | 90 | 15.6% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 39 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 21 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 19 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 18 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 15 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 7 | 1.2% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 7 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 90 | 15.6% |
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 Ponca City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 320 | 55.5% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 51 | 8.8% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 42 | 7.3% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 27 | 4.7% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 18 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 17 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 16 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 13 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 11 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 10 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 52 | 9.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Ponca City departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 80% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $12,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ponca City sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
17 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 184,089 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 20,307 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 17,683 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 14,910 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 11,382 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 10,216 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 9,077 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,600 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Fireworks | 7,320 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,887 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 6,830 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 6,400 | 19.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 6,325 | 24.7 mi |
Top 5 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 Ponca City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Ponca City.
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.