In 2025, fire departments serving Renton responded to 841 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $710K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 38% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
4,612 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $26.5M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 895 | — | |
| 2022 | 880 | -1.7% | |
| 2023 | 1,046 | +18.9% | |
| 2024 | 950 | -9.2% | |
| 2025 | 841 | -11.5% |
For the 52 building fires Renton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,056 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 | 163 | 15.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 155 | 14.7% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 95 | 9.0% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 87 | 8.2% | |
| 5 | Other | 69 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 58 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 39 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 31 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 30 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 29 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 300 | 28.4% |
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 Renton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 535 | 50.7% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 73 | 6.9% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 69 | 6.5% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 59 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 57 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 56 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 34 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 30 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 27 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 20 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 96 | 9.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Renton departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 69% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $710,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $480,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $344,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $160,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $160,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Renton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 11,963 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3,312 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,243 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,061 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 750 | 43.7 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 594 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 494 | 20.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 420 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 360 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 359 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 350 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 310 | 42.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 294 | 44.6 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 Washington cities with population within ±25% of Renton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Renton.
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.