In 2025, fire departments serving Selah responded to 107 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $2.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
657 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $4.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 127 | — | |
| 2022 | 149 | +17.3% | |
| 2023 | 157 | +5.4% | |
| 2024 | 117 | -25.5% | |
| 2025 | 107 | -8.5% |
For the 14 building fires Selah departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 226 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 | Outside area, other | 46 | 20.4% | |
| 2 | Other | 24 | 10.6% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 24 | 10.6% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 22 | 9.7% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 18 | 8.0% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 17 | 7.5% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 15 | 6.6% | |
| 8 | Function area, other | 7 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Structural area, other | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Egress/exit, other | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 44 | 19.5% |
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 Selah mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 92 | 40.7% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 59 | 26.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 18 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 12 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Incendiary device | 3 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 20 | 8.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Selah departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,000,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $40,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $2,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Selah sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,214,851 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 | 22.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 163,884 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80,053 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 74,800 | 18.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 72,641 | 32.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 71,209 | 24.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 57,520 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 52,056 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 48,902 | 29.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 46,802 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 43,874 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Recreation and ceremony | 41,748 | 37.5 mi |
Top 4 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 Selah. 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.