In 2025, fire departments serving Reno responded to 1,586 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 50% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
10,697 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $20.1M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2,101 | — | |
| 2022 | 2,328 | +10.8% | |
| 2023 | 2,334 | +0.3% | |
| 2024 | 2,348 | +0.6% | |
| 2025 | 1,586 | -32.5% |
For the 82 building fires Reno departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,508 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 | 281 | 18.6% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 238 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 109 | 7.2% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 88 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Other | 69 | 4.6% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 67 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 64 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 46 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 38 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 34 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 474 | 31.4% |
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 Reno mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 739 | 49.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 149 | 9.9% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 89 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 85 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 80 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 66 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 38 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 36 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 28 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 26 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 172 | 11.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Reno departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 63% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $417,830 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Reno sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
80 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 | 15 | |
| 30-39 | 22 | |
| 40-49 | 27 | |
| 50-59 | 13 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 689,014 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 | 98,960 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 83,599 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 51,386 | 24.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 47,133 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 47,029 | 19.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 46,800 | 25.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 41,545 | 9.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 36,142 | 28.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 24,140 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 22,674 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 16,988 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16,761 | 49.8 mi |
Top 10 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Nevada cities with population within ±25% of Reno. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Reno.
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.