In 2025, fire departments serving Pullman responded to 116 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $864K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 46% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
586 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $2.3M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 121 | — | |
| 2022 | 111 | -8.3% | |
| 2023 | 127 | +14.4% | |
| 2024 | 111 | -12.6% | |
| 2025 | 116 | +4.5% |
For the 7 building fires Pullman departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 111 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 23 | 20.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 15 | 13.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 12 | 10.8% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 5 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 30 | 27.0% |
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 Pullman mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 19 | 17.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 18 | 16.2% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 14 | 12.6% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 11 | 9.9% | |
| 5 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 7 | 6.3% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 5 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 19 | 17.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Pullman departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $864,371 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $3,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $2,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $2,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Pullman sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 190,267 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 52,000 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 21,640 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 17,420 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15,269 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11,500 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11,453 | 13.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,859 | 40.3 mi | |
| 1997 | Natural | 6,500 | 26.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 4,002 | 23.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3,700 | 25.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3,399 | 33.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,200 | 27.4 mi |
Top 3 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Washington cities with population within ±25% of Pullman. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Pullman.
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.