In 2025, fire departments serving Sparks responded to 635 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $478K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 53% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,435 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $6.6M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 665 | — | |
| 2022 | 765 | +15.0% | |
| 2023 | 664 | -13.2% | |
| 2024 | 706 | +6.3% | |
| 2025 | 635 | -10.1% |
For the 44 building fires Sparks departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 520 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 | 89 | 17.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 83 | 16.0% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 36 | 6.9% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 35 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 26 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 22 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 18 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 17 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 16 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Other | 14 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 164 | 31.5% |
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 Sparks mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 257 | 49.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 38 | 7.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 32 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 26 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 22 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 17 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 17 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 12 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 11 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 11 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 77 | 14.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sparks departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 85% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $478,450 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $478,450 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sparks sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
62 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 8 | |
| 30-39 | 21 | |
| 40-49 | 15 | |
| 50-59 | 6 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 677,996 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 98,960 | 27.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 83,599 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 51,386 | 20.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 47,133 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 47,029 | 25.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 46,800 | 32.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 41,545 | 2.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 36,142 | 25.8 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 24,140 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 22,674 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 16,988 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 16,284 | 34.1 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.
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.