In 2025, fire departments serving Shoreline responded to 290 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K 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 52% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,627 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $9.2M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 326 | — | |
| 2022 | 356 | +9.2% | |
| 2023 | 371 | +4.2% | |
| 2024 | 284 | -23.5% | |
| 2025 | 290 | +2.1% |
For the 18 building fires Shoreline departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 700 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 | 141 | 20.1% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 111 | 15.9% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 97 | 13.9% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 59 | 8.4% | |
| 5 | Other | 45 | 6.4% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 37 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 26 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 26 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Cooking area, kitchen | 23 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 15 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 120 | 17.1% |
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 Shoreline mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 407 | 58.1% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 43 | 6.1% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 32 | 4.6% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 32 | 4.6% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 31 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 21 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 19 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 16 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 14 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 14 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 71 | 10.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Shoreline departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 91% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $80,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Shoreline sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,410 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 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,243 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 817 | 39.0 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 594 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 494 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 443 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 360 | 36.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 294 | 37.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 290 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 289 | 33.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 200 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 170 | 49.1 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 Shoreline. 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.