In 2025, fire departments serving Provo responded to 491 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.5M 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 47% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,789 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $10.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 953 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,044 | +9.5% | |
| 2023 | 808 | -22.6% | |
| 2024 | 493 | -39.0% | |
| 2025 | 491 | -0.4% |
For the 21 building fires Provo departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 376 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 | 85 | 22.6% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 50 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 30 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 23 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 14 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 13 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 10 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 10 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 9 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Other | 8 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 124 | 33.0% |
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 Provo mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 147 | 39.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 50 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 43 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 28 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 21 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 11 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 11 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 7 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 6 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 45 | 12.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Provo departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 90% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $600,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $150,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $86,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Provo sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 580,890 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Natural | 102,191 | 30.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 89,148 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 68,547 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 47,387 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 33,838 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 31,661 | 24.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25,456 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 22,045 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 18,620 | 26.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 13,926 | 32.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 12,837 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,584 | 13.3 mi |
Top 8 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Utah cities with population within ±25% of Provo. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Provo.
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.