In 2025, fire departments serving Show Low responded to 1,038 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $225K 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 90% of all calls.
May peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,564 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $820K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 158 | — | |
| 2022* | 140 | — | |
| 2023* | 127 | — | |
| 2024* | 101 | — | |
| 2025 | 1,038 | — |
* Well below Show Low's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 9 building fires Show Low departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 86 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 14 | 16.3% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 12 | 14.0% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 8 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 7 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 4 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 3 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Other | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 25 | 29.1% |
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 Show Low mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 24 | 27.9% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 11 | 12.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 9 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 7.0% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 5.8% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 4 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 4.7% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 3.5% | |
| 10 | Match | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 10.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Show Low departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $225,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,440 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $100 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Show Low sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 774,809 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 259,158 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 209,704 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 48,443 | 33.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 45,977 | 24.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 33,826 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 33,633 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 24,109 | 28.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11,936 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 9,005 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 8,930 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 8,800 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 8,690 | 23.3 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.
Six Arizona cities with population within ±25% of Show Low. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Show Low.
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.