In 2025, fire departments serving Shelton responded to 327 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $450K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,516 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $8.5M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 554 | — | |
| 2022 | 642 | +15.9% | |
| 2023 | 588 | -8.4% | |
| 2024 | 405 | -31.1% | |
| 2025 | 327 | -19.3% |
For the 22 building fires Shelton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 446 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 | 67 | 15.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 63 | 14.1% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 52 | 11.7% | |
| 4 | Other | 34 | 7.6% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 25 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 21 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 19 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 13 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 12 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Function area, other | 11 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 129 | 28.9% |
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 Shelton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 189 | 42.4% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 34 | 7.6% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 30 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 25 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 20 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 19 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 18 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 15 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 14 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 13 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 69 | 15.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Shelton departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 91% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $450,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $194,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $90,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $64,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $62,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Shelton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
19 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 17,431 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3,312 | 24.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 2,815 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 2,475 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,243 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Fireworks | 1,100 | 21.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 825 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 817 | 32.2 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 594 | 5.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 494 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 443 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 385 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 384 | 27.3 mi |
Top 7 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 Shelton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Shelton.
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.