In 2025, fire departments serving Redmond responded to 343 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.8M 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. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,675 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $14.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 240 | — | |
| 2022 | 334 | +39.2% | |
| 2023 | 394 | +18.0% | |
| 2024 | 364 | -7.6% | |
| 2025 | 343 | -5.8% |
For the 15 building fires Redmond departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 398 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 | Undetermined | 48 | 12.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 45 | 11.3% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 42 | 10.6% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 41 | 10.3% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 31 | 7.8% | |
| 6 | Other | 30 | 7.5% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 19 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 16 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 8 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 8 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 110 | 27.6% |
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 Redmond mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 197 | 49.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 33 | 8.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 29 | 7.3% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 26 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 23 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 15 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 11 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 7 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 42 | 10.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Redmond departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 93% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,750,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $300,000 | Fire, other | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Redmond sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,848 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,061 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 750 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 494 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 420 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 360 | 24.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 290 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 289 | 24.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 280 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 280 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 275 | 44.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 275 | 42.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 252 | 42.1 mi |
Top 7 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 Redmond. 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.