In 2025, fire departments serving Sonoita responded to 40 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $795K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Authorized controlled burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 83% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
232 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $821K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 54 | — | |
| 2022 | 56 | +3.7% | |
| 2023 | 49 | -12.5% | |
| 2024 | 33 | -32.7% | |
| 2025 | 40 | +21.2% |
For the 3 building fires Sonoita departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 46 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 | Outside area, other | 9 | 19.6% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 15.2% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 6 | 13.0% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 10.9% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 5 | 10.9% | |
| 6 | Other | 3 | 6.5% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 6.5% | |
| 8 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 8.7% |
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 Sonoita mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 18 | 39.1% | |
| 2 | Lightning | 5 | 10.9% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 3 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Chemical reaction | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 6.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sonoita departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $795,423 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sonoita sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 431,821 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 68,079 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Fireworks | 46,991 | 15.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 38,179 | 12.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30,600 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30,526 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 27,259 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 23,183 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16,369 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 15,210 | 44.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 14,590 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | 12,015 | 22.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,775 | 17.8 mi |
Top 4 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 Sonoita. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Sonoita.
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.