In 2025, fire departments serving Soldotna responded to 138 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $52K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
762 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $2.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 113 | — | |
| 2022 | 160 | +41.6% | |
| 2023 | 186 | +16.2% | |
| 2024 | 165 | -11.3% | |
| 2025 | 138 | -16.4% |
For the 14 building fires Soldotna departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 141 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 | 35 | 24.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 16 | 11.3% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 6.4% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 7 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 6 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 5 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Other | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 45 | 31.9% |
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 Soldotna mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 71 | 50.4% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 13 | 9.2% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 12 | 8.5% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 11 | 7.8% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 6.4% | |
| 6 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 6 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 5.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Soldotna departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 93% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $51,600 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $40,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $11,566 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $6,300 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Soldotna sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 522,796 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 196,722 | 4.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 167,182 | 23.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 56,254 | 34.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 26,300 | 26.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 17,510 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 13,221 | 11.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 10,131 | 19.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,876 | 14.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 8,600 | 31.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Smoking | 5,200 | 29.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 2,800 | 26.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 1,960 | 22.5 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 99669 | 762 |
Six Alaska cities with population within ±25% of Soldotna. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Soldotna.
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.