In 2025, fire departments serving Sitka responded to 19 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $40K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Sitka's departments reported 19 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 37 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Authorized controlled burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
184 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 40 | — | |
| 2022 | 37 | -7.5% | |
| 2023 | 42 | +13.5% | |
| 2024 | 46 | +9.5% | |
| 2025* | 19 | — |
* Well below Sitka'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 0 building fires Sitka departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 72 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 | 12 | 16.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 10 | 13.9% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 7 | 9.7% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 9.7% | |
| 6 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 3 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Vacant structural area | 2 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 18 | 25.0% |
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 Sitka mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 21 | 29.2% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 9 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 9.7% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 7 | 9.7% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 8.3% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 6.9% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 5 | 6.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sitka departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $40,000 | Water vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $500 | Water vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sitka sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 1 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 27 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 27 | 48.7 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Alaska cities with population within ±25% of Sitka. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Sitka.
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.