In 2025, fire departments serving Riverdale responded to 78 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 46% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
368 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 56 | — | |
| 2022 | 96 | +71.4% | |
| 2023 | 56 | -41.7% | |
| 2024 | 82 | +46.4% | |
| 2025 | 78 | -4.9% |
For the 8 building fires Riverdale departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 52 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 | 17 | 32.7% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 9 | 17.3% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 5.8% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 3 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Other | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 9 | 17.3% |
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 Riverdale mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 26 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 6 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 3 | 5.8% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 7.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Riverdale departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $65,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $60,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $6,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $500 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Riverdale 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 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 230,982 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Natural | 40,000 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 24,594 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Firearms and explosives use | 16,267 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 16,116 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 15,330 | 19.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 14,293 | 45.9 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 10,500 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Firearms and explosives use | 9,880 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,000 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Firearms and explosives use | 6,848 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,403 | 27.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 5,500 | 36.6 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 Utah cities with population within ±25% of Riverdale. 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.