In 2025, fire departments serving Seminole responded to 172 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 50% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
965 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.4M cumulative property loss. 5 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 141 | — | |
| 2022 | 254 | +80.1% | |
| 2023 | 213 | -16.1% | |
| 2024 | 185 | -13.1% | |
| 2025 | 172 | -7.0% |
For the 15 building fires Seminole departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 275 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 | 119 | 43.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 22 | 8.0% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 20 | 7.3% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 17 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 3.3% | |
| 6 | Other | 8 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 7 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 6 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Function area, other | 5 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 5 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 57 | 20.7% |
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 Seminole mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 159 | 57.8% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 21 | 7.6% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 14 | 5.1% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 13 | 4.7% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 3.3% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 8 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 6 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Molten, hot material | 4 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 28 | 10.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Seminole departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 91% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Seminole 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 201,683 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 21,860 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 17,299 | 26.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 16,423 | 24.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 14,000 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,600 | 15.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 9,429 | 17.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 9,080 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,954 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,500 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,680 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,730 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,580 | 48.3 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 Oklahoma cities with population within ±25% of Seminole. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Seminole.
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.