In 2025, fire departments serving Spokane Valley responded to 176 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $3.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Spokane Valley's departments reported 176 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 537 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Attempted burning, illegal action, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 43% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,686 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $9.2M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 786 | — | |
| 2022 | 518 | -34.1% | |
| 2023 | 704 | +35.9% | |
| 2024 | 502 | -28.7% | |
| 2025* | 176 | — |
* Well below Spokane Valley'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 19 building fires Spokane Valley departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 717 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 | 124 | 17.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 88 | 12.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 65 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Other | 64 | 8.9% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 34 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 31 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 28 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 28 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 22 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 19 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 214 | 29.8% |
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 Spokane Valley mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 330 | 46.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 62 | 8.6% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 52 | 7.3% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 38 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 38 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 35 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 28 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 23 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 19 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 16 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 76 | 10.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Spokane Valley departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $3,000,000 | Rail vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $800,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $90,650 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $60,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Spokane Valley sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
23 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 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 6 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 89,027 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 18,117 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15,269 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Firearms and explosives use | 10,552 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,017 | 14.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 5,046 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,983 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 3,840 | 45.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 3,020 | 20.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,172 | 36.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 1,966 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,873 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,783 | 39.2 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 Washington cities with population within ±25% of Spokane Valley. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.