In 2025, fire departments serving Richland responded to 388 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $731K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 50% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,879 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $6.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 388 | — | |
| 2022 | 377 | -2.8% | |
| 2023 | 354 | -6.1% | |
| 2024 | 372 | +5.1% | |
| 2025 | 388 | +4.3% |
For the 57 building fires Richland departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 351 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 | 84 | 23.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 37 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 34 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 23 | 6.6% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 16 | 4.6% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 15 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 12 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 11 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 10 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 10 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 99 | 28.2% |
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 Richland mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 80 | 22.8% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 41 | 11.7% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 36 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 33 | 9.4% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 31 | 8.8% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 19 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 14 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 13 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Fireworks | 13 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 13 | 3.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 58 | 16.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Richland departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 91% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $730,550 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $206,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $156,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $34,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Richland sits below 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 985,939 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 171,915 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 163,884 | 30.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 78,000 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 72,641 | 32.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 57,520 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 48,902 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Recreation and ceremony | 41,748 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30,648 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25,000 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 24,892 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 24,650 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 22,672 | 49.7 mi |
Top 6 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 Richland. 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.