In 2025, fire departments serving Providence responded to 32 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $30K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Carbon monoxide incident lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 72% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
103 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $378K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 18 | — | |
| 2022* | 7 | — | |
| 2023 | 19 | — | |
| 2024 | 27 | +42.1% | |
| 2025 | 32 | +18.5% |
* Well below Providence'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 Providence departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 17 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 | 3 | 17.6% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 17.6% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Conduit, pipe, utility, or ventilation shaft | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 9 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 5.9% |
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 Providence mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 23.5% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 3 | 17.6% | |
| 3 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 17.6% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Fireworks | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Incendiary device | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 5.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Providence departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Providence sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 252,212 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Natural | 40,000 | 37.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 31,395 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 20,616 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 15,046 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 13,784 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 13,763 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 12,498 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 11,200 | 39.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 10,500 | 24.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 9,674 | 34.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | 8,594 | 46.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,680 | 37.3 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 | 84332 | 103 |
Six Utah cities with population within ±25% of Providence. 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.