In 2025, fire departments serving Salt Lake City responded to 1,574 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $2.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Aircraft standby lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 39% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
9,545 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $85.1M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,706 | — | |
| 2022 | 2,121 | +24.3% | |
| 2023 | 2,095 | -1.2% | |
| 2024 | 2,049 | -2.2% | |
| 2025 | 1,574 | -23.2% |
For the 62 building fires Salt Lake City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,316 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 | Undetermined | 300 | 22.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 274 | 20.8% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 128 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 53 | 4.0% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 51 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 44 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 41 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 29 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Other | 27 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 27 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 342 | 26.0% |
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 Salt Lake City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 652 | 49.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 131 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 86 | 6.5% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 78 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 74 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 53 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 39 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 38 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 33 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 27 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 105 | 8.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Salt Lake City departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 74% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $500,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $500,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 7 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $120,400 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Salt Lake City sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
30 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 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 8 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 8 | |
| 60-69 | 4 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 300,228 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Natural | 44,345 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 31,010 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 24,594 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Firearms and explosives use | 16,267 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 16,116 | 32.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 15,330 | 19.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 14,293 | 34.8 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 13,926 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,584 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Firearms and explosives use | 9,880 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 9,000 | 24.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 8,906 | 48.0 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.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Salt Lake City.
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.