In 2025, fire departments serving Ridgefield responded to 207 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Authorized controlled burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 42% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
792 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $8.4M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 180 | — | |
| 2022 | 159 | -11.7% | |
| 2023 | 144 | -9.4% | |
| 2024 | 102 | -29.2% | |
| 2025 | 207 | +102.9% |
For the 14 building fires Ridgefield departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 255 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 | 57 | 22.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 49 | 19.2% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 31 | 12.2% | |
| 4 | Other | 20 | 7.8% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 11 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 11 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 10 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 10 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 6 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 45 | 17.6% |
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 Ridgefield mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 128 | 50.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 25 | 9.8% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 15 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 14 | 5.5% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 12 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 10 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 7 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 6 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 4 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 26 | 10.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Ridgefield departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 90% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $65,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $30,000 | Water vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $25,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ridgefield 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 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. 120,000 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Fireworks | 48,488 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 24,995 | 35.8 mi | |
| 1992 | Smoking | 24,400 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 7,500 | 18.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,508 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,584 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,508 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 497 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 483 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 373 | 44.1 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 Ridgefield. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Ridgefield.
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.